Ethereum Foundation Pledges $1.25 Million to Support Tornado Cash Developer Roman Storm
The Ethereum Foundation has announced a significant contribution to support the legal defense of Roman Storm, co-founder of Tornado Cash, who is facing federal charges in the United States. The foundation has pledged $500,000 and will also match community donations up to $750,000.
Storm is set to go on trial on July 14, 2025, before the Federal Court of Manhattan, where he will face charges of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business and conspiracy to violate US sanctions. The Ethereum Foundation’s donation is a clear statement of support for Storm and a stand for privacy and open-source development.
Background and Context
Tornado Cash, a crypto mixer, was sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in 2022 for allegedly facilitating the laundering of over $1 billion in illegal funds. Storm and his co-founders were accused of enabling users to conceal the source and destination of transactions, which US authorities claim was used by hackers and criminal networks to move stolen assets.
The case against Storm has raised concerns about the criminalization of open-source development and the potential implications for decentralized finance (DeFi). His defense team has argued that the case threatens the foundation of DeFi and that writing code is not a crime.
Support from the Crypto Community
The Ethereum Foundation’s contribution is not the only show of support for Storm. Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, donated 50 ETH (approximately $170,000) in January 2025 to support the legal defense of Tornado Cash developers Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev. The “Free Pertsev and Storm” project on Juicebox has also collected over $650,000 via Justifiedao, a decentralized fund supported by the crypto community.
The Defi Education Fund has also called for the Trump administration to intervene, describing the actions of the DOJ as “lawless persecution” of open-source software developers. The petition has gained momentum, with signatures from prominent industry figures such as Fred Ehrsam of Coinbase, Matt Huang of Paradigm, and Ethereum developer Tim Beiko.
For more information on this developing story, please visit the original source: https://cryptonews.com/news/ethereum-foundation-stakes-1-25m-war-chest-to-shield-tornado-cashs-roman-storm/
