Ethereum (EF) donates more than a million dollars to help the Tornado Cash Alexey Pertsev developer with his legal defense. The contribution follows the release of the developer subject to supervision to prepare for the resumption of his conviction in money laundering in the Netherlands.
Ethereum Foundation helps Alexei Persif defense
On Wednesday, Ethereum announced its donation of $ 1.25 million to the legal defense of Alexei Persif. In the X Publication, the Foundation shared its contribution to the Tornado Cash developer, stressing that “privacy is normal, and that the writing law is not a crime.”
EF pledges $1.25 million to support Tornado Cash's developer. Source: Ethereum Foundation on x
In August 2022, the US Treasury to Combat Foreign Assets (OFAC) made the ETHEREUM TORNAMO CASH mixer to “fail to impose effective controls” that prevented harmful actors from laundering money using the protocol.
The US Treasury has argued that the decentralized protocol has been used to wash more than $ 7 billion since 2019, including $ 455 million linked to the North Korean Lazarus Group.
In the aftermath of the sanctions, Persif was held in the Netherlands and was charged with money laundering, allegedly assisting a $ 1.2 billion laundering between the entry of Tornado Cash in December 2019 and August 2022.
In May 2024, the developer was convicted of money laundering by the S-Hertogenbosch Court and was sentenced to 5 years in prison. However, he recently received a subject to overseeing its next appeal.
As Bitcoinist stated, the legal team Pertsev submitted an appeal against the court’s ruling after its conviction, which led to his release under the supervision of preparation for the appeal from prison.
In the X publication, the developer announced his launch on February 7, explaining that the court suspended his detention before the trial in light of the electronic monitoring. He added that his release was not “real freedom”, but it was “better than prison.”
The struggle continues for privacy tools
Persif to thank Ethereum’s contribution to his defense, expressing her gratitude and relief to donate because “he can now focus completely on my attractiveness.”
The Ethereum founder, Vitalik Buterin, also responded to the EF post, where she shared the same foundation. Burin called for privacy on various occasions, using protocols such as Railgun and clarification, “privacy is normal, and the writing is not a crime.”
Recently, he called for the release of the co -founder of Pertsev and Tornado Cash, Roman Storm, who was also arrested in 2022 and is awaiting his trial on April 14. Ethereum founder stated that “no man should be left behind” after US President Donald Trump gave the full amnesty of the founder of Silk Ross Olbrecht.
The ETHEREUM Foundation’s move comes in the wake of Paradigm’s recent donation of the co -founder of Tornado Cash. The encryption company has contributed $ 1.25 million to Storm’s legal defense on January 28, on the pretext that “the prosecution issue threatens software developers responsible for the bad deeds of the third parties, which will have a chilling effect on the encryption and outside.”
It should be noted that Crypto’s peculiarity got a partial victory a month ago when the US District Court in the Western Region in Texas reflected OFAC sanctions against Tornado Cash after its rule in November.
The Court of Appeal in the Fifth Circuit ruled that OFAC “exceeded its specific authority of Congress” through the punishment for the encryption mixing protocol. The court concluded that the non -changeable smart contracts in Tornado Cash cannot be classified as “property” under federal law, which places it outside the scope of the IEPA Economic Forces Law (IEPA).
Ethereum (ETH) trades at $2,391 in the one-week chart. Source: ETHUSDT on TradingView
Distinctive photo of Unsplash.com, Chart from Tradingview.com
