Vitalik Buterin has continuously expressed his support for Tornado Cash developers Alexey Pertsev and Roman Storm, who have been accused of money laundering.
On May 8, the co-founder of Ethereum contributed 30 ETH, equivalent to about $113,000, to the Juicebox campaign ‘Free Alexey & Roman.’
Buterin has been actively advocating for Pertsev and Storm and expressed his dismay regarding the outcome of their legal case. During his speech at DappCon in Berlin, he referred to Pertsev’s 64-month prison term as “extremely unfortunate.”
He believes that creating software for privacy should be “a completely legal and legitimate approach to advocating for privacy.”
Nevertheless, the Dutch court’s decision was contradictory, as it found Pertsev guilty of money laundering through the software he created. This case now has broader implications for Storm, who faces similar accusations in the United States.
Tornado Cash and other crypto mixers, designed to obfuscate transaction trails, have come under significant regulatory scrutiny due to concerns about their potential misuse by criminal organizations.
Despite these challenges, Buterin remains hopeful, expressing his desire for “positive clarity” in Storm’s upcoming trial in the U.S. He continues to advocate for privacy, emphasizing its significance for “ordinary people” and not just for malicious actors.
Buterin himself strongly supports privacy-centric cryptocurrency tools and has consistently championed the creation of “next-gen” solutions like Railgun and 0xbow. The Ethereum co-founder believes that developing software for privacy should be “a completely legal and legitimate approach to advocating for privacy.”
In addition to Buterin, the legal defense for Tornado Cash has also garnered the attention of prominent privacy advocate Edward Snowden. The former NSA whistleblower has publicly endorsed the fundraiser for Tornado Cash’s legal defense, encouraging those who are able to contribute to do so.
As of now, the Free Alexey & Roman campaign has gathered a total of 559.81 ETH, equivalent to approximately $2 million.
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