tl;dr
The Ethereum Foundation has pledged $1.25 million to support the legal defense of Alexey Pertsev, a main developer of the Tornado Cash app. Pertsev faces money laundering charges related to the app, which the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned for its use in laundering cash. The Foundation emphasiz...
The Ethereum Foundation has pledged $1.25 million to support the legal defense of Alexey Pertsev, the main developer of the Tornado Cash app. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned the app for its alleged use in money laundering, leading to controversial legal challenges. Pertsev, who faces money laundering charges, was supported by the Foundation, which emphasized that writing code is not a crime.
The Tornado Cash app enabled anonymous transactions of ETH, but it was also allegedly utilized by North Korean-sponsored actors to cover their tracks after hacking crypto protocols. This contentious case has sparked legal action and criticism from privacy advocates and major cryptocurrency stakeholders, including a prominent crypto exchange.
The Ethereum Foundation, a non-profit organization backing Ethereum network development, is taking a stand in this high-profile legal battle. The Foundation has provided a donation link for those wishing to contribute to Pertsev's defense, underlining the belief that coding is not a crime and privacy is essential.
In 2022, Dutch authorities arrested Pertsev and charged him with money laundering. He was convicted of laundering $1.2 billion in illicit assets, resulting in a 64-month prison sentence. Amidst an ongoing appeal process, the Foundation reiterated its stance on privacy and coding not being a criminal act, echoing the sentiments of privacy advocates and concerned stakeholders in the cryptocurrency community.
Amidst the controversy, America's largest crypto exchange, Coinbase, funded a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Treasury, labeling the sanctioning of the Ethereum mixing service as an "unprecedented, overbroad action." The Ethereum Foundation, known for its support of Ethereum and its developers, continues to advocate for privacy and the rights of developers within the crypto industry.