Vitalik Buterin donates 30 ETH to Tornado Cash legal defense

Vitalik Buterin has continued to portray his support for Tornado Cash developers Alexey Pertsev and Roman Storm, who have been accused of money laundering.

On May 8, the Ethereum co-founder donated 30 ETH, valued at approximately $113,000, to the Juicebox campaign ‘Free Alexey & Roman.’

Buterin has been a vocal supporter of Pertsev and Storm and has expressed his disappointment over the verdict of their case. Speaking at DappCon in Berlin, he described  Pertsev’s 64-month prison sentence as “really unfortunate.”

According to him, developing software for privacy should be “a totally legal and legit way to fight for privacy.”

However, the Dutch court’s stance was in contradiction, as it ruled Pertsev guilty of money laundering via the software he developed. The case now holds broader implications for Storm, who faces similar charges in the United States.

Tornado Cash and other crypto mixers designed to obscure transaction trails have faced substantial regulatory scrutiny for their potential misuse by criminal entities.

Despite these challenges, Buterin remains optimistic, hoping for “positive clarity” in Storm’s upcoming trial in the U.S. He continues to champion privacy, touting its importance for “common people” and not just nefarious actors.

Buterin himself is a staunch supporter of privacy-centric cryptocurrency tools and has consistently advocated for the development of “next-gen” solutions such as Railgun and 0xbow. Creating software for privacy should be “a totally legal and legit way to fight for privacy,” according to the Ethereum co-founder.

Besides Buterin, the Tornado Cash legal defence has also drawn the attention of prominent privacy advocate Edward Snowden. The former NSA whistleblower has publicly supported the fundraiser for the Tornado Cash legal defence, urging those who can assist to do so.

Snowden believes the case against Tornado Cash is “deeply illiberal and profoundly authoritarian.” He voiced sentiments similar to Buterin’s, asserting that “privacy is not a crime.”

Following Vitalik’s donation, the campaign received multiple smaller amounts in ETH, with accompanying messages like “justice finally comes.”

At the time of publication, the Free Alexey & Roman campaign has raised a total of 559.81 ETH, approximately $2 million.