Urgent appeal to help defend Tornado Cash’s Roman Storm and the right to financial privacy
The post Urgent appeal to help defend Tornado Cash’s Roman Storm and the right to financial privacy appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm took to Twitter with an urgent plea for support, ahead of his high-profile trial date tomorrow. Storm, who has been battling legal charges for nearly two years, is calling on the crypto community to help raise $500,000 in the next few days and $1.5 million in the coming weeks to cover escalating legal fees, expert witnesses, and research costs as the case stretches beyond its initial two-week projection. Who is Roman Storm, and what is Tornado Cash? Storm, for the uninitiated, is a prominent blockchain developer and co-founder of Tornado Cash, a privacy-focused Ethereum mixing service. Tornado Cash enables users to obfuscate the origin and destination of crypto transactions, providing a layer of privacy on public blockchains. He has been entangled in legal proceedings since his arrest in August 2023, when U.S. authorities charged him with conspiracy to commit money laundering and sanctions violations related to Tornado Cash. He has spent nearly two years under restrictive conditions, facing mounting legal and financial pressure as his trial date approaches on July 14, 2025. In a recent urgent appeal, Storm revealed a critical funding shortfall: $500,000 needed within days and $1.5 million required in the coming weeks. Why this case matters for crypto, privacy, and freedom Storm’s defense centers on the principle that writing and publishing open-source code is a form of free speech protected under the First Amendment. The outcome of this case could set a precedent for how governments treat software developers and open-source contributors worldwide. Tornado Cash and similar privacy tools are essential for safeguarding user anonymity in a financial system that is increasingly surveilled. The prosecution of Storm is seen by many as a direct challenge to the right to financial privacy and the legitimacy of privacy-preserving technologies. The case also raises concerns…
Filed under: News - @ July 13, 2025 7:03 pm