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The Ethereum Foundation has committed $500,000 to assist in the legal defense of Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm, who is facing federal charges in the United States.
Alongside the direct contribution, the foundation announced it will match community donations up to $750,000.
Ethereum Foundation Takes Action to Aid Roman Storm as Tornado Cash Trial Approaches
Storm is scheduled to go to trial on July 14, 2025, in federal court in Manhattan. He faces charges of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitter, conspiracy to launder money, and conspiracy to breach U.S. sanctions.
The Ethereum Foundation characterized its donation as a commitment to privacy and open-source development.
“Privacy is normal, and writing code is not a crime,” it stated in a message shared on X on Friday.
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
Storm was indicted in August 2023 for his involvement in the creation and maintenance of Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixer alleged to have facilitated the laundering of over $1 billion in illicit funds.
The service reportedly enabled users to conceal the origins and destinations of transactions, a practice that U.S. authorities claim was exploited by hackers and criminal organizations to transfer stolen assets.
Storm’s trial occurs amid heightened scrutiny from prosecutors and regulators regarding crypto tools associated with privacy and decentralization. His defense contends that the case jeopardizes the foundation of decentralized finance (DeFi) by criminalizing open-source development.
“In 31 days, I face trial,” Storm expressed in a Friday post on X. “The DOJ wants to dismantle DeFi, asserting I should have controlled it, implemented KYC, and never developed it. SDNY is attempting to crush me, obstructing every expert witness. If I lose, DeFi perishes with me.”
His co-founder, Roman Semenov, has also been charged in the case but remains at large, reportedly in Russia.
A third developer, Alexey Pertsev, was found guilty of money laundering by a Dutch court in May and sentenced to over five years in prison. He is currently under electronic monitoring while his appeal is underway.
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Tornado Cash was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in 2022. The agency alleged that the tool had facilitated over $7 billion in illicit transactions since 2019 and failed to implement measures against criminal misuse.
Storm’s legal team previously attempted to dismiss the charges, arguing that OFAC exceeded its authority by sanctioning the mixer’s smart contracts.
This motion followed a separate ruling in a related case that questioned the agency’s jurisdiction over decentralized code.
As the trial nears, the Ethereum Foundation’s contribution represents one of the most prominent displays of support for Storm and raises broader questions about the extent to which developers should be held accountable for permissionless code.
Vitalik Buterin Contributes $170K to Assist Tornado Cash Developers Earlier This Year
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin donated 50 ETH, valued at approximately $170,000 in January 2025, to support the legal defense of Tornado Cash developers Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev.
@VitalikButerin has stepped forward with a substantial donation to support the legal defense of Tornado Cash developers.#Buterin #ETHhttps://t.co/b6gbH3KxZw
— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) January 1, 2025
This contribution was confirmed through the Juicebox project “Free Pertsev and Storm,” which has raised over $650,000 through JusticeDAO, a decentralized fund supported by the crypto community.
Buterin’s support comes amid increasing legal pressure on the developers. In May, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it would move forward with federal charges against Storm, including accusations of money laundering and sanctions violations.
DOJ pursues federal charges against Roman Storm, cofounder of Tornado Cash, after dropping unlicensed money transmission charge.#TornadoCash #RomanStorm https://t.co/ZGXe7IGREZ
— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) May 16, 2025
DOJ pursues federal charges against Roman Storm, cofounder of Tornado Cash, after dropping unlicensed money transmission charge.#TornadoCash #RomanStorm https://t.co/ZGXe7IGREZThe charge related to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business was subsequently dropped. The legal actions against Storm have also triggered backlash within the crypto community.
In April, the DeFi Education Fund urged the Trump administration to intervene, labeling the DOJ’s actions as a “lawless prosecution” of open-source software developers.
The petition has gained traction, garnering signatures from notable industry figures including Coinbase’s Fred Ehrsam, Paradigm’s Matt Huang, and Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko.
The post Ethereum Foundation Stakes $1.25M War Chest to Shield Tornado Cash’s Roman Storm appeared first on Cryptonews.
