Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin is donating 100 ETH to bolster the legal defense fund of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm.
In a new thread on the social media platform X, Storm – who helped launch the anonymous ETH-based crypto mixing protocol in 2019 – expresses his gratitude to Buterin for his continued support.
“I can’t describe how much it means to me. Thank you for your long-lasting support.”
According to the Free Pertsev & Storm X account, the most recent donation marks the third time Buterin has shown his support for the beleaguered Tornado Cash developers.
In 2022, the US government sanctioned the coin tumbler, citing national security concerns. At the time, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said that over $7 billion worth of digital assets had been laundered through the protocol since its launch, including funds moved by the North Korean hacking network the Lazarus Group.
The developers of the protocol were subsequently charged, including Storm, who was arrested last year alongside Roman Semenov, another developer of Tornado Cash, for allegedly helping the Lazarus Group launder illicit funds.
The legal fund, hosted on the decentralized fundraising platform Juicebox, has raised over $800,000 in Ethereum at time of writing. The people behind the fundraising effort say Storm’s legal expenses have soared to $500,000 per month, and he may need an additional $2 to $3 million to follow through with the case.
In May, it was unveiled that Buterin sent 30 ETH, worth $113,678 at the time, to Storm and Pertsev’s fund. Last month, a judge in the Netherlands sentenced Pertsev to over five years in prison for helping to create a platform that allows bad actors to launder proceeds of criminal activity.