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Vitalik Buterin has shown his support for Tornado Cash developers Alexey Pertsev and Roman Storm, who face accusations of money laundering.
On May 8, the Ethereum co-founder donated 30 ETH, valued at approximately $113,000, to the Juicebox campaign ‘Free Alexey & Roman.’ Buterin has been vocal about his disappointment over the case’s verdict. Speaking at DappCon in Berlin, he described Pertsev’s 64-month prison sentence as “really unfortunate.”
Buterin believes that developing software for privacy should be “a totally legal and legit way to fight for privacy.” However, the Dutch court ruled Pertsev guilty of money laundering via the software he developed. This ruling has broader implications for Storm, who faces similar charges in the United States.
Tornado Cash and other crypto mixers designed to obscure transaction trails have faced substantial regulatory scrutiny for their potential misuse by criminal entities. Despite these challenges, Buterin remains optimistic, hoping for “positive clarity” in Storm’s upcoming trial in the U.S. He continues to champion privacy, emphasizing its importance for “common people” and not just nefarious actors.
Developing software for privacy should be “a totally legal and legit way to fight for privacy.”
Buterin himself is a staunch supporter of privacy-centric cryptocurrency tools and has consistently advocated for the development of next-gen solutions such as Railgun and 0xbow. Besides Buterin, the Tornado Cash legal defense has also drawn the attention of prominent privacy advocate Edward Snowden. The former NSA whistleblower has publicly supported the fundraiser for the Tornado Cash legal defense, urging those who can assist to do so.
Snowden believes the case against Tornado Cash is “deeply illiberal and profoundly authoritarian.” He voiced sentiments similar to Buterin’s, asserting that “privacy is not a crime.”
Following Vitalik’s donation, the campaign received multiple smaller amounts in ETH, with accompanying messages like “justice finally comes.” As of now, the Free Alexey & Roman campaign has raised a total of 559.81 ETH, approximately $2 million.
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