Ethereum Foundation Donates $500K to Tornado Cash Co-Founder Roman Storm’s Legal Defense
The Ethereum Foundation has publicly backed Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm, announcing a $500,000 donation to support his legal defense ahead of his upcoming trial.
The foundation also pledged to match up to an additional $750,000 in community donations.
In a post shared Friday on X, the foundation affirmed its stance, writing, “Privacy is normal, and writing code is not a crime.” The contribution comes as Storm races to raise $2 million to cover legal expenses for his trial scheduled to begin July 14 in New York.
Storm faces charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and violating U.S. sanctions laws for his role in developing and operating the Tornado Cash protocol. The U.S. government alleges the protocol facilitated illicit transactions, including those linked to North Korea’s Lazarus Group.
Storm has maintained that Tornado Cash was created as a tool to preserve financial privacy, and not for criminal purposes. His legal defense has become a focal point within the crypto community, seen by many as a litmus test for the rights of open-source developers.
The Ethereum Foundation’s donation signals growing institutional concern over legal actions targeting blockchain developers and privacy protocols. With the trial fast approaching, the foundation’s contribution and matching offer aim to galvanize broader support from the crypto ecosystem.
Kosta has reported on cryptocurrency markets and blockchain infrastructure since 2020, bringing over six years of hands-on experience in the crypto industry built through daily tracking of markets, trends, and emerging blockchain developments. Specializing in Bitcoin on-chain analysis, institutional ETF flows, and digital asset price action, his work at Coindoo has been cited by other news agencies and consistently covers market developments with a focus on data-driven reporting across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. Over the years, Kosta has contributed to multiple crypto media outlets in different regions, authoring over 6,000 articles across the sector. His reporting spans cryptocurrency markets and the broader fintech industry, tracking not only price action but also the technological and regulatory forces shaping the ecosystem. To support his analysis, Kosta actively leverages on-chain data and metrics from leading platforms such as Santiment, Glassnode, and CryptoQuant, enabling deeper, evidence-based market insights. He believes in the power of transparency and the data that underpins the blockchain ecosystem. His academic background in Marketing Management from Denmark further complements his analytical approach, adding a strong understanding of communication strategy and content positioning to his work.
