Vitalik Buterin contributes 30 ETH to Juicebox-created legal fund for Tornado Cash developers
Quick Take
- Vitalik Buterin donated 30 ETH ($111,000) to a legal defense fund for Tornado Cash developers via Juicebox.
- The fund, created via Juicebox, has so far raised 591 ETH ($2.2 million) to legally support Alexey Pertsev and Roman Storm.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin appears to have donated 30 ETH ($111,000) to a legal defense fund for Tornado Cash developers Alexey Pertsev and Roman Storm via the decentralized fundraising platform Juicebox, on-chain data shows.
A transaction from an address associated with Buterin, named vitalik.eth, was made at 1:58 am EST to the “Free Alexey & Roman” legal fund on Juicebox.
The fund has so far raised 591 ETH ($2.2 million) to provide legal help to the developers of Ethereum-based crypto mixer Tornado Cash, who face money laundering charges.
This month, Dutch courts sentenced Alexey Pertsev to 64 months in prison for his role in processing $1.2 billion through the mixer from July 2019 to August 2022, concluding he facilitated money laundering. Pertsev has appealed his conviction, filing an appeal with the s-Hertogenbosch Court of Appeal in the Netherlands.
Roman Storm, another developer involved with Tornado Cash, remains detained in the U.S. since his arrest in 2023, with his trial scheduled for September.
In 2022, Buterin donated 10 ETH (valued at $30,980 at that time) to AssangeDAO — a legal fund on Juicebox to support WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2023 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
