Ethereum Foundation Backs Tornado Cash Co-Founder with $500K Donation—DeFi Drama Escalates

Privacy tech meets legal firestorm as Ethereum’s heavyweight nonprofit cuts a $500K check for Tornado Cash’s embattled creator.

Subheader: Money Talks, Regulators Walk

The donation—equal to roughly 200 ETH at current prices—lands like a grenade in the ongoing crypto-compliance war. While traditional finance scrambles to freeze accounts over coffee spills, Web3 players keep writing checks that bypass bureaucracy.

Subheader: Anon Goes Mainstream

No mention of whether the funds will cover legal fees or just buy more hoodies for the ‘code is speech’ defense. Either way, it’s another middle finger to the suits—packaged as philanthropic R&D funding.

Closing jab: Meanwhile, Wall Street still thinks ‘mixer’ is a kitchen appliance.

Charges Over Developing Tornado Cash

Tornado Cash is an Ethereum-based cryptocurrency project that permits users of its service to anonymize transactions; it has attracted the attention of U.S. officials, who claim it was used to launder funds, among other illegal transactions, by entities such as the Lazarus Group in North Korea. 

The defense of Storm states that, since the protocol is open-source, it functions independently, and bringing developers to trial over its use is a very risky precedent in the tech and cryptocurrency communities. The fact that writing code is not a crime stands out, reinforced by Vitalik Buterin, one of the co-founders, and promoted by the ethereum Foundation.

Fundraise to Support Roman’s Trial

This funding follows the Foundation’s earlier contributions, including a $500,000 direct donation and a $750,000 matching pledge in June 2025. The latest $500,000 match is intended to assist Storm’s team in raising $1.5 million for his appeal, given the rapidly increasing legal costs. The community-driven effort, led by Free Pertsev & Storm, calls for global donations to amplify the defense fund through the Foundation’s matching program.

Storm’s case is a tipping point in the crypto sphere and brings to the fore questions of developer liability, the rights to privacy, and the uncertain future of DeFi. His popularity has the potential to change how regulators approach the regulation of decentralized technologies, following the U.S. Treasury’s removal of sanctions against Tornado Cash in March 2025. 

The whole crypto community is invited to join the battle since this case has the potential of establishing the premises of innovation and liberty in the blockchain world.

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