In a significant development, the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on the Tornado Cash cryptocurrency mixer in 2022, alleging its involvement in facilitating money laundering activities.
Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has recently contributed an additional 100 Ether—approximately valued at $240,000—to the legal defense fund for Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm. This marks the third occasion on which Buterin has extended his support to Storm.
The crowdfunding initiative, known as Defend Roman Storm, has received 148 contributions totaling over 327 ETH, equivalent to around $785,000 at current market rates. In response to Buterin’s generous donation, Storm expressed heartfelt gratitude, stating, “I can’t describe how much it means to me. Thank you for your long-lasting support.”
On September 26, 2024, U.S. District Judge Katherine Failla ruled against Storm’s motion to dismiss the case, allowing it to move forward. Judge Failla emphasized that the charges against Storm are not unfounded and rejected his assertion that he is merely being prosecuted for writing code.
Storm has pleaded not guilty and argues that Tornado Cash is open-source software accessible to anyone and not under the control of its developers. If found guilty on all three charges, he faces a potential maximum sentence of 45 years in prison—a situation that has alarmed the cryptocurrency community and triggered widespread support for the beleaguered developer.
In June 2024, a group called JusticeDAO was established to help fund the defense of Tornado Cash developers. This initiative successfully raised over 654 ETH, valued at more than $1.5 million based on current market prices.
Despite the sanctions imposed by OFAC and ongoing legal scrutiny from U.S. authorities, deposits into the Tornado Cash mixer surged to approximately $1.9 billion in the first half of 2024—marking a 50% increase compared to the total deposits from the previous year. The effectiveness of these sanctions appears limited, particularly for users who intend to transfer funds through OFAC-compliant centralized exchanges with know-your-customer protocols, as well as targeted wallet addresses that can be created anonymously on demand.
