Vitalik Buterin Donates Another 300 ETH to Support Tornado Cash Developers in Their Legal Battle for Innocence

Ethereum's co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently donated another 100 Ether (worth approximately ($240,000) to the controversial Tornado Cash legal case that has taken the crypto world by storm - marking the third time the notable crypto cuilder has donated to the cause.

Till date, this case has amassed 148 different donations on the Defend Roman Storm crowdsourcing page, totaling the total funds to 327 ETH, valued at roughly $785,000.

In an X post, the Tornado Cash developer personally thanked Buterin for his donation.

The legal case that has taken the crypto world by storm

In August 2023, Storm and his fellow co-founder Roman Semenov were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit sanctions violations and conspriacy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business.

The charges have also accused Tornado Cash of corruption by pocketing nearly $1 million in funding from a venture capital firm in exchange for a cut of the profits.

On September 26, 2024, United States Judge Katherine Failla denied Storm's motion for dismissal, allowing the case to proceed. Faila insisted that they had proof of Storm's misdoings and she doesn't but Mr Storm's narrative that he is being prosecuted merely for writing code.

The Storm case has captured the attention of prominent figures who has came to Storm's defence, calling the DOJ's accusation an fringement of freedom of softwaredevelopers world wide.

This case has gather an amazing amount of supporters who were quick to donate and fight for the freedom of Storm and his team. In June 2024, an funding under the name of JusticeDao was formed; and the group raised over 645 ETH, valued at over $2.5 million based on the current market price.

Storm pleaded not guilty to the charges and stood firm on its stance that Tornado Cash is an open source software and Tornado Cash's developers should not be punished for the wrongdoings of third parties.

If the Storm is convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of 45 years behind bars, a prospect that has shaken the crypto community and caused an outpouring support from the embattled software developers.

The unstoppable tornado

Despite sanctions from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and legal pressure from US officials, the banned crypto mixer Tornado Cash has witnessed a surprising uptick in deposits volume in the first half of 2024.

According to data from Flipside Crypto, Tornado Cash received a whopping 1.9 billion in deposits in the first six months of this year, a 50% increase from the total sum of deposits throughout 2023.

The sanctions put in place were only effective if Tornado Cash users intended to move funds through OFAC-compliant centralized exchanges with know-your-customer (KYC) protocols, or to specific wallet addresses — which are pseudonymous and can be generated at will.