{"id":92985,"date":"2026-01-09T19:14:49","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T16:14:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=92985"},"modified":"2026-01-09T19:15:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T16:15:16","slug":"vitalik-buterin-defends-tornado-cash-developer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/vitalik-buterin-defends-tornado-cash-developer\/","title":{"rendered":"Vitalik Buterin Defends Tornado Cash Developer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/VitalikButerin\/status\/2009518473173512379\">published<\/a> a letter in support of <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/what-is-the-tornado-cash-mixer-and-why-was-it-sanctioned\">Tornado Cash<\/a> developer Roman Storm, who faces up to five years in prison.<\/p>\n<p>In August, a U.S. jury <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/jury-returns-partial-guilty-verdict-for-tornado-cash-co-founder-crypto-industry-dismayed\">found<\/a> the co-founder of the crypto mixer guilty of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business. However, the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on charges of money laundering and sanctions violations.<\/p>\n<p>Storm <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/rstormsf\/status\/2009432826765341113\">stated<\/a> that in his case, authorities have criminalized coding, equating privacy tools with money laundering.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>\u201cBut we know the truth: the right to privacy is a human right. Mathematics is not a crime. The fight for my freedom\u2014and for the future of open-source software\u2014is at a critical juncture. I need your voice to show the world that this community is united,\u201d he wrote.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Buterin responded to his call, emphasizing that as a staunch advocate of privacy, he has supported Storm&#8217;s work from the beginning. He positioned privacy tools like Tornado Cash as essential protection against the misuse of personal data by government bodies and private corporations.<\/p>\n<p>The expert categorically rejected the stance of those who believe that governments or intelligence agencies need full access to citizens&#8217; confidential information for public safety. According to Buterin, such databases are regularly hacked or their contents simply sold.<\/p>\n<p>He also noted that he personally used Tornado Cash for anonymous transactions when purchasing software, making charitable donations, and in several other instances.<\/p>\n<p>Buterin described Storm as a \u201cprincipled and resilient developer\u201d defending the inalienable human right to privacy. He noted that the applications created by the programmer remain functional years after he stopped working on them.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>\u201cRoman, like me, wants to see a world where the fundamental guarantees of our rights, which were an undisputed standard in the past millennium, remain with us in the next. And that is why I support him,\u201d Buterin concluded.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Earlier, Storm&#8217;s lawyers announced plans to <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/tornado-cash-co-founders-defense-seeks-dismissal-of-legal-proceedings\">file a motion<\/a> to dismiss the trial against him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin published a letter in support of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm, who faces up to five years in prison.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":92986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"Vitalik Buterin supports Tornado Cash developer facing prison.","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1256,1314,200],"class_list":["post-92985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-privacy-and-personal-data","tag-tornado-cash","tag-vitalik-buterin"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"163","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"Vitalik Buterin supports Tornado Cash developer facing prison.","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92985"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92987,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92985\/revisions\/92987"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}