Ethereum Foundation, Keyring Network Raise Funds For Tornado Cash Developers
The Ethereum Foundation and Keyring Network have launched an initiative to lift funds for Tornado Cash builders Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev amid their respective authorized battles.
Ethereum Foundation, Keyring Network Raise Funds
According to an October 10 announcement, the 2 organizations have launched fundraising efforts to “pioneer open-source authorized protection funding.”
The announcement additionally states that the primary three months of charges from zkVerified permissioned vaults on the Ethereum mainnet will go to Storm and Pertsev’s authorized protection.
“We imagine privateness is a elementary proper, and that open-source builders shouldn’t face prison legal responsibility for writing code,” mentioned Alex McFarlane, CEO of Keyring Network.
“By donating our early protocol charges to the protection of Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev, we’re signaling that zkVerified DeFi can uphold compliance, security, and privateness whereas standing in solidarity with the builders who paved the best way,” he added.
Following the information, Pertsev took to X to say he’s “past grateful” for the donations.
I’m past grateful
to @KeyringNetwork for donating their protocol charges to cowl authorized bills.@ethereumfndn can be coordinating help and standing with me.
We nonetheless have an extended solution to go on this attraction because the Court has determined that an extra investigation needs to be…
— Alexey Pertsev (@alex_pertsev) October 10, 2025
“We nonetheless have an extended solution to go on this attraction because the Court has determined that an extra investigation needs to be achieved,” the developer wrote. “We preserve working in direction of justice, and your assistance is invaluable to #CodeWithoutFear.”
Tornado Cash Case Stirs Debate
Storm was indicted in August 2023 on expenses of conspiracy to commit cash laundering, cash laundering, and sanctions violations, and was discovered responsible on one prison cost in August 2025.
Federal prosecutors alleged Storm laundered and hid greater than $1 billion via Tornado Cash—together with a whole lot of hundreds of thousands for the Lazarus Group, North Korea’s state-sponsored malware collective.
“Roman Storm and Roman Semenov allegedly operated Tornado Cash and knowingly facilitated this cash laundering,” then-U.S. Attorney Damian Williams mentioned in an August 2023 press launch.
As Storm and Pertsev proceed their authorized battles, the result might form how far builders can go in constructing privacy-preserving protocols with out crossing into prison territory.
The publish Ethereum Foundation, Keyring Network Raise Funds For Tornado Cash Developers appeared first on Cryptonews.
