The Ethereum Foundation announced financial support for co -founder Tornado Cash in the amount of half a million dollars, emphasizing the importance of privacy on blockchain and defense of code developers.
A controversial judgment on Tornado Cash
Last Wednesday, the court in Manhattan was found by Roman Storm guilty of conspiracy to conduct unlicensed cash, but it was not possible to achieve unanimity regarding the allegations of money laundering and violation of sanctions. Co -founder of the controversial cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash can now face up to five years in prison, and in the case of a re -trial – potentially decades behind bars.
Ethereum Foundation defends developers
“Privacy is the norm, but writing a code is not a crime,” wrote Wei Wang, executive co -conductor of Ethereum Foundation, announcing the foundation’s obligation to pay an additional $ 500,000 for legal defense of Storm. This decision emphasizes the importance of the matter for the entire blockchain community.
The Free Pertsev & Storm organization drew attention to the urgency of further financing, warning that the result would “establish an important precedent for developers around the world.” Storm previously appealed to an additional $ 1.5 million in July, explaining that legal costs are growing rapidly.
Tornado Cash – technology or tool of criminals?
Tornado Cash is a cryptocurrency mixer that allows users to hide a trace of transactions by mixing funds with other users. The US Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on the protocol in August 2022, claiming that from 2019 $ 7 billion from laundering, including the funds of the Lazarus hacker group from North Korea, sailed through it.
Prosecutors presented Storm as a person who drew profits from “hiding dirty money for criminals”, while defense argued that Tornado Cash was designed as a privacy tool for ordinary users, and not for illegal activities.
Precedent for the entire DEFI industry
Jeffrey Ding, the main analyst of Hashkey Group, assessed that the judgment “emphasizes the unprecedented legal territory for the Open-Source software for privacy” and is a disturbing precedent, where the authorities are ready to test the limits of applying the provisions on financial crime against developers of the code.
The cryptocurrency lawyer Jake Chervinsky called the sentence “a sad day for DEFI”, arguing that the regulations should not apply to non-supporting protocol developers who do not control the funds of user.
A wider context of fighting privacy
The Storma case is not isolated. Last week, the founders of the Bitcoin Samourai Wallet mixer – William Lonergan Hill and Keonne Rodriguez – pleaded guilty about the underground to conduct unlicensed monetary message, and threaten them to five years in prison. Prosecutors say that the devil’s portfolio has been used for washing over $ 100 million.
The future of the development of blockchain technology (and privacy)
The case of Roman Storma has become a tension symbol between blockchain innovations and government regulations.
The support of Ethereum Foundation signals that the cryptocurrency community does not intend to passively watch the criminalization of the development of blockchain technology. The result of the appeal may be of fundamental importance for the future of developers working on privacy tools in cryptocurrency ecosystems.
