The developers of crypto blender Tornado Cash are raising over $350,000 for their legal defense. They are accused of money laundering and violating U.S. sanctions for creating a crypto blender that allows crypto transactions to be anonymized. Storm, Semenov and Pertsev have received significant support from, …, Edward Snowden.
Table of Contents
Tornado Cash needs your help
The developers of the crypto blender Tornado Cash are in turmoil and need the crypto community. Alexey Pertsev, Roman Storm and Roman Semenov have launched a fund of $350,000 to finance their defense in the American courts. In his message X, Roman Storm claims is afraid of the law, but is confident of the support of the crypto community.
Honestly, I’m scared. But I also hope that this community cares passionately about me. Please donate to my legal defense.
Roman Storm
Roman Storm is right to be scared. He and the other two co-founders of Tornado Cash are facing serious charges of money laundering and sanctions violations in the USA. U.S. Department of Justice claims that more than $1 billion in cryptocurrencies were transferred via crypto blender Tornado Cash. This tool reinforces the anonymity of transactions, making it difficult for authorities to identify the sender and recipient of funds.
For the moment, the three developers are in a tricky situation. Roman Storm is under house arrest in Washington. His collaborator Roman Semenov has also been charged, but is still at large. For his part, Alexey Pertsev has been detained since last year in the Netherlands, where he faces charges similar to those of his collaborators in the USA.
Confidentiality is a right, not a crime, reminds Edward Snowden
The Tornado developers’ appeal for help has received a great deal of support. On social networks, positive and encouraging comments can be found below the publication of Roman Strorm. One important supporter is… Edward Snowden! In a message posted on X, Snowden called on his followers to contribute to the fund.
For this American whistleblower turned Russian for revealing classified documents, privacy is a right, not a crime. Thus, the development of privacy-preserving software such as Tornado Cash is an act of activism to be encouraged, not a crime to be punished.
The lawsuit against the developers of Tornado Cash is sure to reignite the debate on the anonymity of crypto transactions and privacy preservation policies. It’s true that crypto mixers are used to conceal certain fraudulent transactions, which represent less than 0.34% of the crypto market. However, it is undeniable that these tools help protect crypto users’ right to privacy. So we can’t ban a tool protecting a right just because criminals are using it. Just because some people go on the darknet doesn’t mean the Internet should be banned.
I dream of a world where every citizen has total control over themselves, including their finances. I believe that Bitcoin is one of the tools that will achieve this revolution. Since 2019, I am learning about this cryptocurrency and spreading the word around.
