Storm’s Defense Gets $500K Boost from Ethereum Foundation

Roman Storm’s Legal Defense Gets $500,000 Boost from Ethereum Foundation

Written by Aaron S.,

Editor-In-Chief

Last Updated: August 08, 2025

Key Takeaways

The Ethereum Foundation will match $500,000 in donations to support Roman Storm’s legal defense;
Storm faces up to five years if his appeal fails, while two other charges could still be retried;
Critics said the verdict could set a harmful precedent for developers of open-source code.

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The Ethereum ETH $4,335.69 Foundation has pledged to match up to $500,000 in new donations to support the legal defense of Roman Storm, co-developer of Tornado Cash.

Wei Wang, co-executive director of the foundation, stated in an August 7 post on X, "Privacy is normal, and writing code is not a crime". The pledge follows earlier donations that have already helped raise more than $2 million for Storm’s defense.

Storm’s supporters, including the group Free Pertsev & Storm, warned that Storm could face up to five years in prison if his appeal fails, and much longer if the government moves forward with the other two charges.

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In July, Storm said his legal expenses were growing and asked for an extra $1.5 million. He explained that his legal team had been working long hours throughout the three-week trial, which added to the pressure.

The Ethereum Foundation's commitment comes after a New York jury found Storm guilty of running an unlicensed money transfer service. The jury could not agree on two other charges, money laundering and sanctions violations, which prosecutors could still retry.

Lawyer Jake Chervinsky described the verdict as “a sad day for DeFi". He argued that the law used in the case should not apply to someone who does not control user funds.

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