Vitalik Buterin donates 100 ETH to Roman Storm defense fund

Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently donated another 100 Ether, valued at approximately $240,000, to Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm’s legal defense fund — marking the third time the notable crypto builder has donated to the cause.

According to the Defend Roman Storm crowdsourcing page, 148 different payments have been received for the developer’s defense fund — totaling over 327 ETH, valued at roughly $785,000, at the time of writing.

“I can’t describe how much it means to me. Thank you for your long-lasting support,” the Tornado Cash developer told Buterin following the contribution.

Court orders Roman Storm Case to proceed

On Sept. 26, 2024, United States Judge Katherine Failla denied Storm’s motion for dismissal, allowing the case to proceed. Failla remarked that the charges against Storm weren’t baseless and that she “cannot simply accept Mr. Storm’s narrative that he is being prosecuted merely for writing code.”

Storm pleaded not guilty to the charges and maintains that Tornado Cash is open-source software that can be used by anyone and is not controlled by Tornado Cash’s developers.

If convicted on all three charges, Storm faces a maximum sentence of 45 years behind bars — a prospect that has shaken the crypto community and caused an outpouring of support for the embattled software developers.

In June 2024, it was reported that JusticeDAO was formed to crowdsource a defense fund for the Tornado Cash developers. The group raised over 654 ETH, valued at over $1.5 million at current market prices.

Related: Samourai Wallet forked into ‘Ashigaru’ Open Source Project

Sanctions can’t stop the Tornado

Despite sanctions from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and legal pressure from US officials, deposits into the Tornado Cash mixer reached approximately $1.9 billion in the first half of 2024. This represents a 50% increase in deposits from the entirety of the previous year.

The sanctions were only effective if Tornado Cash users planned to route funds through OFAC-compliant centralized exchanges with know-your-customer controls and targeted wallet addresses — which are pseudonymous and can be created on demand.

Magazine: Tornado Cash 2.0: The race to build safe and legal coin mixers