Ethereum Foundation Contributes $500,000 for Tornado Cash Co-Founder’s Legal Defense

The non-profit Ethereum Foundation (EF) has donated $500,000 towards the legal defense of Roman Storm, co-founder and developer of the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash.

The EF is donating $500K to the legal defense of Roman Storm, and we will match up to a further $750K in donations from the community.

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

— Ethereum Foundation (@ethereumfndn) June 13, 2025

The foundation also plans to raise an additional $750,000 in community donations.

Storm faces charges of conspiracy to launder money, evade U.S. sanctions, and operate an unlicensed money transmission business through Tornado Cash. The trial is set to begin on July 14. The programmer aims to raise $2 million for legal fees.

In August 2022, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the mixer’s website due to its role in money laundering. According to U.S. authorities, since its inception, over $7 billion has been laundered through the service, including by North Korean hacker group Lazarus.

In January 2025, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the sanctions citing “overreach” by OFAC, sending the case back to the Western District of Texas for further proceedings. In April, the agency lifted restrictions on the mixer.

At the end of April, a Federal Court prohibited OFAC from reimposing or renewing sanctions against Tornado Cash.

In May 2022, Tornado Cash co-founder Alexey Pertsev was sentenced to over five years for laundering $1.2 billion through the mixer, but in February 2025, he was released under electronic monitoring pending appeal. That same month, EF allocated $1.25 million for his legal defense.

“Privacy is normal, and writing code is not a crime,” the organization reiterated in its statement.

In October 2024, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin donated 100 ETH (approximately $242,000 at the time) to the legal defense fund for Pertsev and Storm.