Ethereum Foundation Donates $1.25 Million for Tornado Cash Developer’s Legal Defense

The Ethereum Foundation has contributed $1.25 million to support the legal defense of Alexey Pertsev, a developer of the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash.

The EF is donating $1.25M to the legal defense of Alexey Pertsev.

Privacy is normal, and writing code is not a crime.

You can contribute to @alex_pertsev‘s defense here: https://t.co/shWFNoDJ9g https://t.co/ITvEiRkAGt

— Ethereum Foundation (@ethereumfndn) February 26, 2025

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin echoed the sentiment of the original tweet in his comments.

Privacy is normal, and writing code is not a crime.

Milady

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) February 26, 2025

“Privacy is normal, and writing code is not a crime,” he wrote.

Buterin has previously expressed support for the mixer team under investigation. In May 2024, he donated 30 ETH (~$111,000) to the legal defense fund for Pertsev and the service’s co-founder Roman Storm.

Supporters are also invited to contribute to the fundraising on the decentralized platform Juicebox.

Pertsev thanked the organization for the funds raised.

Great news! Thank you @ethereumfndn for making a huge donation to my legal defense for the case in the Netherlands ? I’m very grateful that I can now completely focus on preparing my appeal. This means the world to me. Let’s do this together! ? https://t.co/rdOqiHkQ5G

— Alexey Pertsev (@alex_pertsev) February 26, 2025

“Thank you! Now I can completely focus on preparing my appeal. This means a lot to me. Let’s do this together!” he noted.

In May 2024, a Dutch court found Pertsev guilty of laundering $1.2 billion through the mixer and sentenced him to 64 months in prison. On February 7, 2025, his pre-trial detention was suspended, and the developer was released, albeit with mandatory electronic location monitoring.

Charges of money laundering and sanctions violations in the U.S. have also been brought against Tornado Cash co-founders Roman Storm and Roman Semenov.

In January, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned sanctions imposed by the OFAC in 2022 against the mixer, sending the case back for further proceedings.