Vitalik Buterin contributed another 100 Ether, worth about $240,000, to the legal defense fund for Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm.
This is the third time Buterin supported this cause.
Call to arms
For now a total of 148 donations have been made, accumulating over 327 ETH, which is roughly valued at $785,000.
Roman Storm expressed his gratitude to Buterin, stating, “I can’t describe how much it means to me. Thank you for your long-lasting support.” This financial backing is pretty important as Storm faces serious legal challenges.
On September 26, 2024, U.S. Judge Katherine Failla denied Storm’s request to dismiss the case against him, allowing it to move forward.
She noted that the charges weren’t without merit and stated that she couldn’t simply accept Storm’s claim that he was being prosecuted solely for writing code.
Storm has pleaded not guilty and argues that Tornado Cash is open-source software available for anyone to use and isn’t controlled by its developers.
Money for the legal costs
If found guilty on all three charges, Storm could face up to 45 years in prison.
This possibility has alarmed many in the crypto community and sparked a wave of support for the developers involved.
In June 2024, a group called JusticeDAO was established to help raise funds for the Tornado Cash developers’ defense.
They successfully gathered over 654 ETH, valued at more than $1.5 million at current market prices.
Privacy is a basic right
Despite facing sanctions from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control and legal challenges from government officials, Tornado Cash continued to see constant activity.
In the first half of 2024 alone, deposits into the Tornado Cash mixer reached around $1.9 billion, marking a 50% increase compared to all of last year.
The effectiveness of these sanctions relies heavily on whether users intend to funnel their funds through centralized exchanges that comply with OFAC regulations.
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