Ethereum Foundation Commits to Double Community Support for Roman Storm

The Ethereum Foundation announced it has donated $500,000 and will match community donations up to $750,000 for Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm’s legal defense. Storm was convicted August 6 in Manhattan federal court of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitter.

A jury in U.S. District Court found Storm guilty on one count after four days of deliberation. The same jury deadlocked on separate charges of money laundering and sanctions evasion. Storm’s trial began on July 14, 2025.

HashKey Group analyst Jeffrey Ding said the verdict represents “unprecedented legal territory for open-source privacy software.” Crypto lawyer Jake Chervinsky called it “a sad day for DeFi” and urged the Second Circuit to review the application of Section 1960.

Storm co-founded Tornado Cash in 2019. The protocol allows users to obscure cryptocurrency transaction trails by pooling funds. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Tornado Cash in August 2022, claiming it processed up to $7 billion in illicit transfers, including funds linked to North Korea’s Lazarus Group.

Co-defendant Alexey Pertsev was arrested in the Netherlands in August 2022. A Dutch court sentenced him to more than five years in prison for money laundering in May 2024. The third co-founder, Roman Semenov, remains at large and is believed to be in Russia.

The Free Pertsev & Storm legal aid organization stated Storm faces up to five years in prison if his appeal fails. If prosecutors retry the deadlocked charges, he could face decades in prison. Storm requested an additional $1.5 million in July, saying legal fees had been “piling up fast” during his three-week trial.

Storm’s appeal is expected to reach the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Legal experts say the outcome could determine developer liability across decentralized finance. The case centers on whether creating open-source privacy software constitutes criminal activity when third parties use it for illegal purposes.