{"id":31890,"date":"2025-06-14T19:46:33","date_gmt":"2025-06-14T19:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=31890"},"modified":"2025-06-14T19:46:33","modified_gmt":"2025-06-14T19:46:33","slug":"ethereum-foundation-donates-500000-to-tornado-cash-co-founders-legal-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=31890","title":{"rendered":"Ethereum Foundation Donates $500,000 To Tornado Cash Co-Founder\u2019s Legal Defense"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Ethereum Foundation (EF) has announced that it will be contributing $500,000 to the legal defense of Tornado Cash co-founder and developer Roman Storm. Storm faces three charges<\/a> in the upcoming trial related to operating a crypto mixer in the United States.<\/p>\n

\u2018Privacy Is Normal, And Writing Code Is Not A Crime\u2019 \u2013 EF<\/b><\/h2>\n

In a June 13 post on the X platform, the Ethereum Foundation disclosed<\/a> that it would donate $500,000 to Storm\u2019s defense in the upcoming court trial. In addition to the significant contribution, the foundation intends to match up to an extra $750,000 in donations from the crypto community.<\/p>\n

This Ethereum Foundation\u2019s announcement comes about a month before the beginning of the trial, which would see Storm battle charges including conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to violate\u00a0 US sanctions, and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business. If found guilty of all these charges, the crypto mixer co-founder faces a prison sentence of up to 45 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While Storm\u2019s legal defense team has tried to get these charges dismissed in court, his trial is set to begin in New York on Monday, July 14. For his defense, the Tornado Cash developer is looking to raise about $2 million.<\/p>\n

The Ethereum Foundation wrote in the post on X:<\/p>\n

\n

Privacy is normal, and writing code is not a crime.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This statement touches on what has been a major talking point \u2014 privacy concerns \u2014 in the crypto community since Storm\u2019s arrest in 2023 and other similar cases (the arrest of Telegram\u2019s co-founder<\/a>, Pavel Durov, in 2024). While the US prosecutors have declared intentions to drop the charge of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, Storm has maintained his innocence throughout this legal battle.<\/p>\n

Tornado Cash Co-Founder Speaks Out On Social Media<\/b><\/h2>\n

Earlier on Friday, Storm took to the social media platform X to appeal for the support of the crypto community, saying that the US judicial system is \u201ctrying to crush\u201d him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The crypto co-founder said:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

If I lose, DeFi dies with me. The dream of financial freedom, the code I believed in\u2014it all fades into darkness. I\u2019m fighting, but the weight is unbearable. This isn\u2019t just my end; it\u2019s ours.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Storm also posted an appreciation message on X<\/a> to the Ethereum Foundation for its $500,000 donation to his legal defense. \u201cYour support means the world to me, especially standing up for privacy and the right to code. I\u2019m so grateful to everyone chipping in\u2014your generosity is truly inspiring! Thanks from the bottom of my heart,\u201d the co-founder concluded.<\/p>\n

\"Ethereum\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) has announced that it will be contributing $500,000 to the legal defense of Tornado Cash co-founder and developer Roman Storm. Storm faces three charges in the upcoming trial related to operating a crypto mixer in the United States. \u2018Privacy Is Normal, And Writing Code Is Not A Crime\u2019 \u2013 EF In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-31890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crypto","tag-doge","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31890\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}