Vitalik Buterin posted a letter on Friday supporting Roman Storm. The Tornado Cash developer is waiting to find out how long he’ll spend in prison. A jury found him guilty in August on one charge – running a money business without a license. He’s looking at five years max.
The feds came after Storm in August 2023. A judge let him stay out on bail because he wasn’t a flight risk. The jury couldn’t agree on the money laundering stuff or the sanctions charges. They only got him on the money transmitting thing.
Feds Say He Helped Launder a Billion Dollars
Storm and his buddies created Tornado Cash. The government says crooks ran more than a billion dollars through it. It’s different from Coinbase or Binance because nobody holds your crypto for you. You’re in control the whole time.
Buterin thinks this whole thing is about punishing a coder, not catching someone who actually ripped people off. Privacy tools keep tech giants and bureaucrats from knowing every single thing you buy.
“I have supported Roman Storm’s work from the beginning, both as a strong believer in the importance of privacy and as an active user of privacy tools, including those developed by Roman,” Buterin wrote.
Buterin’s actually used what Storm built. He bought computer stuff and donated to charities helping people in rough situations. No database tracked it. Storm’s code kept running smoothly even after he moved on to other projects. Most apps fall apart when developers stop babysitting them.
Also Read: ETH Stays Above 3200 as Ethereum Boost Scalability with New Update
Big Money Flowing to Storm’s Legal Bills
Buterin sent 50 ETH to Storm’s lawyers in December 2024. That was roughly 170 grand back then. The Ethereum Foundation threw in half a million last June. They also promised to match 750k from anyone else who donated.
Storm’s legal fund grabbed over 6.39 million dollars in 2025. You can see the numbers on their website. Donors came from every corner of crypto.
Federico Carrone researches blockchain privacy. His company LambdaClass, sent 500 thousand bucks. That’s ten times what he first planned to give. The Solana Policy Institute added 500k in August 2025. That money’s going to Storm and Alexey Pertsev, another Tornado Cash builder.
Last October, the Ethereum Foundation teamed up with Keyring. They launched a fund specifically for Tornado Cash developers facing charges.
Privacy Coders Getting Hammered Worldwide
Pertsev built Tornado Cash alongside Storm. A court in the Netherlands gave him 64 months last year. Dutch prosecutors said he washed 1.2 billion between July 2019 and August 2022.
American cops grabbed the Samourai Wallet founders in April 2024. The feds claim their mixer handled north of 2 billion in sketchy funds from 2015 through 2024. Keonne Rodriguez got a five-year sentence in November 2025. His partner, William Lonergan Hill got four.
Also Read: What is the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and How It Works?
Industry Begging for Developer Protections
A hundred and ten crypto outfits wrote to Senate committee bosses in August 2025. They won’t support major crypto bills unless lawmakers protect software developers. Some top Justice Department guy said “writing code” doesn’t make you a criminal.
Trump hinted he might review these cases. Someone asked him about pardoning Rodriguez from Samourai Wallet at the White House in December 2025. Trump told The Block, “I’ve heard about it, I’ll look at it.”
What Happens Next Could Change Everything
Buterin says privacy was just normal life before. Twenty or thirty years back, nobody logged your phone conversations or shopping receipts. Privacy tools are trying to bring back what people had before surveillance went crazy.
How long Storm gets could reshape the whole industry. A harsh sentence scares developers away from building privacy tech. A lighter one might show courts get the difference between creating tools and breaking laws yourself.
Also Read: Vitalik Proposes the Future of Gas Fees on Ethereum
Storm’s sentencing date hasn’t been announced yet. Crypto lawyers everywhere are glued to this case. The judge could weigh all the support Storm’s gotten. They might also think about whether it makes sense to jail someone when other people abused what they created.
This raises tough stuff. Are coders liable when criminals exploit their open-source projects? Where do you draw the line between legitimate privacy software and helping thieves? Storm’s punishment starts setting those boundaries.
The verdict affects way more than one guy. Developers worldwide are watching to see if American courts will treat building privacy tools like committing the crimes those tools enabled. That decision ripples through every coder working on financial privacy right now.
Also Read: Is Ethereum in Danger? Vitalik Warns Quantum Computers Could Break ECC by 2028
Who is Roman Storm?
Roman Storm is one of the people who made Tornado Cash, a crypto privacy mixer. He got convicted of running an unlicensed money transmitter back in August 2025.
Why’s Vitalik backing him?
Buterin personally uses privacy tech and thinks financial privacy matters for everyone. He sees Storm’s case as prosecuting someone for writing code instead of committing actual crimes.
How much money has been raised?
North of 6.39 million rolled in just during 2025. Buterin, the Ethereum Foundation, and tons of other crypto groups donated big amounts.
What about other privacy developers?
Pertsev is serving 64 months in a Dutch jail. Rodriguez and Hill from Samourai Wallet got five and four years in American prisons.
Get the news in a Jist. Follow Cryptojist on X and Telegram for real-time updates!
Disclaimer:
Look, we’re just journalists reporting the news here, not your financial advisors. Everything you read above is for information purposes only. Crypto is wild, unpredictable, and can absolutely wreck your savings if you’re not careful. Never invest money you can’t afford to lose. Seriously, we mean it. Do your own research, talk to actual licensed financial professionals, and remember that past performance means absolutely nothing when it comes to future results. The crypto market can turn on a dime, and what’s hot today might be toast tomorrow. We’re not responsible for your investment decisions, good or bad. Trade smart, stay safe, and don’t bet the farm on anything you read on the internet, including this article.
Bitcoin 
Tether 
BNB 