Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, donated 50 ETH (approximately $170,000) to support the legal defense of Roman Storm, a developer of Tornado Cash.
The donation, confirmed by Storm on December 31, marks another important gesture by Buterin in support of privacy and open source development in the crypto space.
Storm expressed his sincere appreciation for Buterin’s contribution while acknowledging the Ethereum co-founder’s continued support during a difficult time. He wrote:
“Huge gratitude to Vitalik Buterin for his generous donation to my legal defense fund. Your unwavering support and leadership by example continues to inspire us all. Thank you for being by my side during this difficult time.
Storm also provided an update on the progress of its legal defense fund, which has so far raised $640,061, or 33% of the $2 million goal.
Storm is scheduled to go on trial in the United States on April 14 on allegations of money laundering and sanctions violations through crypto mixing platform Tornado Cash.
Legal efforts
The announcement of Storm’s donation follows his December motion to dismiss the criminal charges against him.
His legal team argued that a recent court ruling questioning the U.S. Treasury’s authority to sanction Tornado Cash’s immutable smart contracts undermines the case against it.
According to Storm’s lawyers, Tornado Cash smart contracts operate autonomously, without individual control. They pointed out that this lack of oversight invalidates claims that Storm knowingly violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
The defense further argued that the government’s case misrepresents the decentralized nature of Tornado Cash. Autonomous smart contracts process transactions independently, making it impossible to attribute their activities to Storm.
They argue that this lack of direct control removes the intent and knowledge necessary to substantiate charges of money laundering or unauthorized money transfer.
Meanwhile, the case has sparked significant community backlash, with Rivet founder Greg Lang saying:
“The creation and publication of open source privacy tools constitutes protected speech and not an act intended to promote a criminal conspiracy using the software.”
