The Ethereum Foundation(EF) announced at this time a $1.25 million donation to relief the coolest protection of Alexey Pertsev, stating that “Privacy is long-established, and writing code is no longer against the law.”
The EF is donating $1.25M to the coolest protection of Alexey Pertsev.
Privacy is long-established, and writing code is no longer against the law.
You might possibly possibly make contributions to @alex_pertsev’s protection here: https://t.co/shWFNoDJ9g https://t.co/ITvEiRkAGt
— Ethereum Foundation (@ethereumfndn) February 26, 2025
Pertsev is working on appealing his conviction and 64-month penal complex sentence for money laundering, which was handed down in Might possibly presumably well honest 2024. He was conditionally released from pretrial detention earlier this month, and is currently placed beneath digital monitoring.
The Foundation’s pass follows Paradigm’s $1.25 million donation to relief Roman Storm, Tornado Money’s co-founder, in his good protection against US prosecution final month.
The donation comes per concerns about the prosecution’s case, which Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang argues “threatens to withhold tool builders criminally accountable for the sinister acts of third events.”
Final December, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin contributed 50 ETH, price roughly $170,000, to an honest protection fund for Storm and Pertsev by blueprint of the Juicebox project Free Pertsev and Storm.
Storm indicated the contribution represented about 25% of the $650,000 on hand by blueprint of JusticeDAO before his trial.
Thanks @VitalikButerin for serving to us end the year on a right show, with a 50 ETH donation to every Roman and Alexey’s good aid.
ZK is the future. https://t.co/WIY8B6v4qapic.twitter.com/sM16LhnUc7
— Free Pertsev & Storm (@FreeAlexeyRoman) December 31, 2024
Pertsev was arrested by Dutch authorities in 2022 for his involvement in the crypto mixing service. In Might possibly presumably well honest 2024, he was chanced on responsible of money laundering and received a penal complex sentence exceeding 5 years.
US prosecutors later charged Storm and Roman Semenov with money laundering, sanctions violations and fraud associated to their roles with Tornado Money. Storm was granted bail before his trial, scheduled for April 14, while Semenov remains at massive.
The fees adopted the US Treasury’s Office of International Resources Alter including the mixer to its Namely Designated Nationals listing in August 2022. US officers claimed sinister actors, including North Korean hackers, had ragged Tornado Money to launder over $7 billion price of crypto sources since 2019.
