Replace, Feb. 26, 3:18 pm UTC: This text has been up to date with feedback from Judith De Boer, lawyer for Alexey Pertsev.
The Ethereum Foundation (EF) donated $1.25 million to help the authorized defense of Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev, who’s getting ready to enchantment his cash laundering conviction within the Netherlands.
“Privateness is regular, and writing code will not be against the law,” the EF wrote in an X publish whereas asserting the donation on Feb. 26.
Supply: Alexey Pertsev
Pertsev subsequently took to X to repost the EF’s announcement, expressing gratitude for the donation to his authorized defense.
“I’m very grateful that I can now fully give attention to getting ready my enchantment. This implies the world to me,” he stated.
His lawyer, Judith De Boer, emphasised the broader implications of the enchantment in a press release to Cointelegraph:
“This help highlights the significance of the authorized ramifications of this case. It isn’t nearly my consumer — it’s in regards to the rights of open-source contributors and guaranteeing that privacy-preserving applied sciences usually are not unfairly criminalized. This enchantment creates a second probability to flip the precedent created by the courtroom in first occasion.”
Pertsev left jail custody in early February
The donation got here weeks after Pertsev left prison custody in early February as a part of the pretrial launch.
The discharge marked a major growth within the ongoing authorized battle over Pertsev’s position at Tornado Cash after he was arrested by Dutch authorities in August 2022.
A Russian nationwide and resident of the Netherlands, Pertsev was found guilty of money laundering by a Dutch courtroom in Could 2024 and sentenced to 5 years and 4 months in jail.
As well as to Pertsev’s ongoing authorized motion within the Netherlands, international authorities, together with america Division of the Treasury’s Workplace of Overseas Belongings Management, sanctioned Tornado Cash in August 2022. The company overturned the sanctions the day after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president on Jan. 20.
Earlier help from the group
The most recent donation by the Ethereum Foundation isn’t the primary time Pertsev acquired monetary help from the Ethereum group.
In December 2024, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin donated 50 Ether (ETH) — or roughly $170,000 on the time — to help authorized help for Pertsev and Roman Storm, one other Tornado Cash developer who’s preparing for a trial within the US on April 14.
Supply: Vitalik Buterin
“I would really like to thank everybody, particularly Vitalik Buterin and Stefan George in your unimaginable generosity to my defense. Your help evokes me to transfer ahead and I’m without end grateful,” Pertsev wrote on the time.
Crypto funding agency Paradigm additionally announced in January a $1.25 million donation to assist fund Storm’s authorized defense.
Journal: Elon Musk’s plan to run government on blockchain faces uphill battle
