The co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, has transferred 30 Ether, worth $113,000, to Juicebox, an open-source crypto crowdfunding platform. The funds will be used to provide legal assistance to Alexey Pertsev and Roman Storm, developers of Tornado Cash.
Currently, the fund has raised approximately 591 Ether (ETH) and will be used to support the legal defense of Pertsev and Storm as they fight to prove their innocence in court.
Buterin, along with other crypto veterans, has long been a proponent of crypto privacy and tools that help users maintain control over their assets privately. He has published numerous papers and suggestions on how to enhance privacy on Ethereum, so his support for this cause is not surprising.
Tornado Cash is a tool that allows users to send crypto transactions anonymously, with a focus on privacy. However, criminals often exploit the tool to transfer hacked or stolen funds.
The nature of the tool has attracted the attention of law enforcement agencies, leading to the United States Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioning its use in August 2022.
As a result, the founders of Tornado Cash were arrested and charged with violating Anti-Money Laundering rules. Pertsev was subsequently sentenced to five years on money laundering charges by a Dutch court.
The crackdown on crypto privacy by law enforcement agencies has had a significant impact on privacy-focused coins like Monero, which have been delisted from major exchanges worldwide. Privacy tools have also faced criticism from regulators.
However, the crypto community believes that arresting software developers for merely writing code and treating them as equivalent to terrorists is unjustified, despite differing opinions on privacy.
The crypto community has been actively advocating for human rights and has been at the forefront of the movement to secure the release of Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the Silk Road marketplace. Ulbricht is currently serving two consecutive life sentences without parole for non-violent crimes.
The community’s efforts have caught the attention of former President Donald Trump, who promised to pardon Ulbricht if elected president.
In other news, a documentary about the FTX collapse, with the help of the filmmaker’s mom, is available on Amazon Prime for $2,500.