Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently donated another 100 Ether, valued at around $240,000, to support the legal defense of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm.
This marks the third time Buterin has contributed to Storm’s defense fund.
According to the Defend Roman Storm crowdsourcing page, 148 different payments have been made to the fund, totaling over 327 ETH, which is valued at approximately $785,000 at the time of writing.
“I can’t describe how much it means to me. Thank you for your long-lasting support,” Storm expressed to Buterin following the donation.
On September 26, 2024, U.S. Judge Katherine Failla denied Storm’s motion for dismissal, allowing the case to move forward.
She stated that the charges against Storm were not baseless, and she “cannot simply accept Mr. Storm’s narrative that he is being prosecuted merely for writing code.”
Storm has pleaded not guilty and insists that Tornado Cash is open-source software that anyone can use, and it is not under the control of its developers.
If found guilty on all three charges, Storm could face up to 45 years in prison.
This has sparked concern within the crypto community, leading to widespread support for the developer.
In June 2024, it was reported that JusticeDAO was established to raise funds for the Tornado Cash developers’ defense.
The group raised over 654 ETH, valued at more than $1.5 million at current market prices.
Despite sanctions from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and legal actions, deposits into the Tornado Cash mixer reached about $1.9 billion in the first half of 2024, a 50% increase from the previous year.
These sanctions only impact users trying to transfer funds through OFAC-compliant centralized exchanges.
