SPI Pumps $500K into Tornado Cash Devs’ Legal Defense—Declares ’Writing Code Is Not a Crime’

Silicon Prairie Initiative throws financial weight behind privacy developers in landmark legal showdown.

The Funding Stand

Half a million dollars lands in the legal war chest—direct support for developers facing regulatory heat. SPI’s move signals industry pushback against prosecuting code creation.

Code vs. Crime

Developers build tools—how users wield them isn’t the programmer’s burden. That’s SPI’s stance, arguing code itself carries no intent. The line between tool and weapon blurs—regulators see conspiracy where builders see mathematics.

Finance’s Ironic Twist

Traditional banks launder billions annually—yet privacy protocols draw outrage. How quaint—the system criminalizes algorithms while excusing its own perpetual compliance failures.

This isn’t just about Tornado Cash—it’s about whether writing code becomes regulated speech. The outcome could redefine open-source development forever.

Ethereum Foundation Leads Industry Support for Privacy Developer Defense

The ethereum Foundation previously pledged $500,000 to Storm’s legal defense fund, which has raised over $4.7 million toward an ambitious $7 million target.

Foundation co-executive director Hsiao-Wei Wang stated that “privacy is normal, and writing code is not a crime” while calling upon the broader crypto community to contribute additional support.

Storm faces up to five years in prison on the money-transmitting conviction, with potentially decades more if prosecutors retry him on deadlocked charges of money laundering conspiracy and sanctions violations.

The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Tornado Cash in August 2022, alleging that $7 billion had been laundered through the platform since 2019, including frequent use by North Korea’s Lazarus Group hackers.

Federal prosecutors characterized Storm as someone who profited from “hiding dirty money for criminals,” while defense teams argued the protocol was designed as a privacy tool for legitimate users.

Among many others, crypto lawyer Jake Chervinsky criticized Storm’s conviction as “” arguing that Section 1960 should not apply to developers of non-custodial protocols who lack control over user funds.

Roman Storm was convicted for conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business under Section 1960.

The jury was deadlocked on money laundering and sanctions. DOJ will decide in the coming days if it wants to retry those charges in a new trial.

A sad day for DeFi.

The Free Pertsev & Storm organization and legal experts worry that the precedent could criminalize open-source development more broadly across the crypto ecosystem.

Cross-Border Evidence Challenges Complicate Crypto Prosecutions

Most recently, Storm’s defense revealed major problems with the government’s evidence collection from Dutch authorities following Pertsev’s arrest in the Netherlands.

The FBI’s extraction of what prosecutors claimed was Pertsev’s phone was missing author information for forwarded messages and showed incomplete file retrieval.

The misattributed Telegram message carried real consequences when Assistant U.S. Attorney Ben Arad referenced it during pretrial hearings, telling the judge it demonstrated the co-founders’ awareness of wrongdoing.

In Storm’s favor, defense attorneys characterized this as providing “false information” to both the court and potentially the grand jury that issued the indictment.

As it stands now, Tornado Cash users, developers, and crypto executives continue challenging Treasury sanctions in court, arguing that Immutable smart contracts should not be subject to OFAC restrictions.

Technical Analysis Points to SOL Recovery Amid Latest Donation

Solana’s price action has formed another golden cross pattern on the SOL/BTC ratio at 0.0018841, where the 50-day moving average has crossed above the 200-day average.

Historical precedent shows that previous golden crosses have led to explosive rallies of 19x and 340%, although diminishing returns suggest more modest gains as market capitalization grows.

The SOL/USD pair currently trades around $213.53 within a long-term horizontal range between $120 and $240, approaching key resistance at the “heaven’s door” level of around $235.

Multiple tests of this resistance suggest a heavy supply must be overcome for a continuation toward new all-time highs above the previous $260 peak.

Knocking on heaven's door$SOL pic.twitter.com/W3zXalUn7y

Short-term price action shows SOL testing a key ascending trendline that has provided support throughout the current advance.

A successful hold of the ascending trendline support, combined with momentum building, could target the $235 resistance level. Conversely, failure below $210 might trigger a deeper correction.

The golden cross pattern provides the most compelling bullish argument; however, investors should expect initial volatility before any sustained advance materializes, potentially leading to new highs above $260.