Crypto Game Winner Donates Prize to Tornado Cash Developers

An anonymous winner of the second season of the cryptocurrency survival game “Crypto: The Game,” known as Player 733, has donated their prize of 71.8 ETH (approximately $210,000 at the time of the transaction) to Tornado Cash developers Alexey Pertsev and Roman Storm. This was reported by Decrypt.

The season, titled “Anon Island,” concluded on April 17. Participants used in-game NFTs to vote for transferring the funds to the Tornado Cash legal defense fund. The transfer has already been made to the fund’s wallet.

“We, the custodians of #733, acting on behalf of the 171 jurors of the game, believe that code is equivalent to speech, open source is not a crime, and privacy is a fundamental human right,” the attached message states.

In August 2022, OFAC blacklisted Tornado Cash for involvement in laundering over $7 billion in illicit funds.

In the same month, Alexey Pertsev was arrested. In April 2023, his pre-trial detention was changed to house arrest.

Money laundering and sanctions violation charges in the US have also been brought against Tornado Cash co-founders Roman Storm and Roman Semenov. The former was released on bail. The latter remained free but came under sanctions.

Since January 2024, Storm and Pertsev have been raising $1.5 million for legal representation. For this purpose, the JusticeDAO fund was created. The initiative has been supported by many in the crypto community.

In February, the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe halted fundraising for Tornado Cash, citing risks to its users.