GoFundMe Halts Fundraiser for Tornado Cash Legal Fees

On February 14, the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe cancelled a fundraiser intended to cover legal expenses for the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash. All contributed funds will be returned to donors.

The money we sent to @rstormsf was cancelled by @gofundme — they shut it down.

I thought this might happen but am still surprised.

Good thing we have an uncensorable money system so we can still fund civil liberties like the right to a fair trial.

Resending $10k with crypto. https://t.co/5Ud4ELiaK5 pic.twitter.com/glRXwtXPBw

— RYAN SΞAN ADAMS — rsa.eth (@RyanSAdams) February 15, 2024

GoFundMe cited a violation of its terms of service, which prohibit fundraising that could “expose the platform, its employees, or users to any harm or liability.” All funds raised will be returned to donors’ bank accounts within three to seven business days.

Ryan Adams of Bankless Ventures, one of the donors, plans to resend $10,000 to Tornado Cash developers in cryptocurrency.

“Good thing we have an uncensorable money system so we can still fund civil liberties like the right to a fair trial,” he wrote.

In total, $30,000 was sent in support of the mixer on GoFundMe. The fundraising effort has now moved to the JuiceBox platform, where donations have reached 316.75 ETH (~$890,000 at the time of writing).

Since January 2024, Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm and developer Alexey Pertsev have been raising $1.5 million for legal representation. For this purpose, the JusticeDAO fund was established. The initiative has been supported by former NSA and CIA employee Edward Snowden, as well as members of the crypto community.

In August 2022, OFAC added Tornado Cash to its sanctions list for involvement in laundering over $7 billion in illicit funds.

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

Later, U.S. authorities also charged Roman Storm and another co-founder, Roman Semenov. The former was subsequently released on bail. The latter remained free but was sanctioned.