Vitalik Buterin, one of the co-founders of Ethereum (ETH), has made a generous contribution to support the legal battle of Tornado Cash developers, Alexey Pertsev and Roman Storm. On May 30th, Buterin transferred 30 ETH, equivalent to $113,678, to the “Free Alexey & Roman” legal fund, according to data from the Ethereum blockchain explorer, Etherscan.

Tornado Cash is a coin mixing service based on the Ethereum network that enables anonymous cryptocurrency transactions. In 2022, the United States imposed sanctions on the platform, alleging that it was being used for money laundering and posed a threat to national security.

Consequently, the developers of Tornado Cash faced charges. Pertsev was recently sentenced to 64 months in jail by a district court in the Netherlands for laundering billions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency. Storm was also arrested by US authorities last year. The Justice Department accused him and fellow developer Roman Semenov of assisting the North Korean hacking group Lazarus in laundering their illegal proceeds.

Earlier this year, Storm appealed for donations to support his legal defense. In a video posted on the social media platform X, he emphasized that the outcome of his trial would have significant implications for the future of digital assets.

The legal fund, hosted on the decentralized fundraising platform Juicebox, has raised 597.07 ETH, equivalent to $2.25 million, so far. The initiative states that the legal expenses for Roman and Alexey amount to $90,000 to $100,000 per month.

“Roman and Alex need your help to build a strong defense, not only for their own sake but also for cryptocurrency users and developers worldwide. In response to their arrests, a group of sympathizers has formed WeWantJusticeDAO to advocate on their behalf and raise funds for their legal defense. However, time and money are running out, and your support is needed,” the initiative states.

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