Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, recently donated another 100 ETH, worth approximately $240,000, to the legal defense fund of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm. This is the third time the famous developer has contributed to the “Free Alexey & Roman” defense fund.

According to the Defend Roman Storm fundraising page, there have been 148 different donations, totaling over 327 ETH, worth around $785,000 at the time of writing.

“I can’t express how much this means to me. Thank you for your unwavering support,” Roman Storm expressed his gratitude to Buterin after receiving the donation.

Court orders Roman Storm case to proceed

On September 26, 2024, U.S. District Judge Katherine Failla denied Storm’s request to dismiss the case, allowing the case to proceed. Failla noted that the allegations against Storm were not without merit and that she “cannot simply accept Mr. Storm’s narrative that he was prosecuted for writing code.”

Storm has pleaded not guilty and asserted that Tornado Cash is open source software, available to anyone and not controlled by Tornado Cash's developers.

If convicted on all three charges, Storm could face a maximum sentence of 45 years in prison – a prospect that has rocked the crypto community and sparked a strong outpouring of support for the software developers being prosecuted.

In June 2024, JusticeDAO was created to raise a defense fund for Tornado Cash developers. The group has raised over 654 ETH, worth over $1.5 million at current market prices.

Sanctions Can't Stop Tornado Cash

Despite facing sanctions from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and regulatory pressure from US officials, deposits into the Tornado Cash mixer reached about $1.9 billion in the first half of 2024. That's up 50% from the previous full year.

The sanctions only come into effect if Tornado Cash users intend to transfer funds through OFAC-compliant centralized exchanges with know-your-customer controls and specific wallet addresses – which are anonymous and can be created as needed.

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