The Ethereum Foundation said that it would make a donation of $ 500,000 to the co-founder and developer of Tornado Cash and Roman Storm developer, who faces charges related to the allegations he conspired to manage the crypto mixing service as a silver issuer without license.
In a Friday X Post, the Foundation said that it would contribute $ 500,000 to the defense of Storm, as well as to equalize with additional $ 750,000 in donations from the cryptographic community.
The announcement occurred about a month before Storm should be tried in New York for money laundering, a conspiracy in sight to exploit a silver issuer without license and conspiracy to violate American sanctions.
“Confidentiality is normal and code writing is not a crime,” said the foundation.
The STORM criminal trial comes while the American authorities seem to move their approach to regulate digital assets and continue the linked crimes.
Tornado Cash’s lawyers asked that the case be abandoned in December after a judge ruled that the US Treasury Control of Foreign Assets has exceeded his authority to sanction the intelligent contracts of the mixer. Friday, the trial is expected to start on July 14.
“In 31 days, I am being tried,” said Storm in a Friday X Post. “The Doj wants to bury Defi, saying that I should have checked him, added KYC, never built him. SDNY tries to crash me, blocking all the expert witnesses. If I lose, Defi puts me with me.”
In relation: The developer accuses the Ethereum Foundation to undermine the developers, creating “secret” teams
Roman Semenov, another tornado cash developer named in the same indictment as Storm, was still at freedom at the time of publication. Reports suggest that he could hide in Russia.
Alexey Pertsev, the third individual linked to the Tornado Cash, was arrested in the Netherlands in 2022 shortly after the American sanctioned addresses linked to the mixture protocol. In May 2024, he was found guilty of money laundering and sentenced to more than five years in prison.
The Ethereum Foundation has also promised $ 1.25 million to the Defense Fund of Pertsev, citing the same reasons concerning confidentiality and the code.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF3WCSS75QY
Support for digital asset defense groups
The cases of the developers of Tornado Cash from Storm and Tornado have aroused the support of organizations for the defense of organizations and important figures from the cryptography industry, calling for the abolition of accusations.
Lawyers from the Coin Center, Defi Education Fund and the Blockchain Association all filed memories of AMICUS in the case of Storm, providing information on possible repercussions if it were to be condemned. The co-founder Ethereum Vitalik Buterin and the founder of ParadigM Matt Huang also contributed to the legal funds of the co-founders of Tornado Cash.
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