Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain, has doubled down on his support for Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm, who could face a brand new trial on two felony charges sometime this yr.
In a post on Friday, the Ethereum co-founder supported Storm even before his criminal trial, saying that developing software that others could use to guard privacy was not a criminal offense.
“I personally have used Roman's software to conduct transactions – to buy software for my very own use without my name ending up in corporate databases, to support charities that protect useful human rights and other causes,” Buterin said. “Roman was a principled and steadfast developer of those principles. Unlike some others who use these causes as an excuse to make a profit and write software that comprises flashy promoting but is broken under the hood.” […]”
Source: Vitalik Buterin
Storm was charged in August 2023 with conducting an unlicensed money transfer business and interesting in a money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to violate sanctions. He was found guilty on the primary charge in August, but jurors were unsure on the opposite two counts.
As of Friday, it was uncertain whether U.S. prosecutors would retry Storm for the 2 crimes or when he can be convicted of running an unlicensed money transmitter business. He has repeatedly claimed he’s innocent and has received support from many within the crypto industry who claim: “Writing code will not be a criminal offense.”
Presidential intervention within the Storm case?
In November, following the decision in Storm's criminal case, a gaggle of crypto corporations and advocacy groups called on US President Donald Trump to intervene and “call on the Justice Department to dismiss all outstanding charges against the Tornado Cash developer.”
As of Friday, Trump had not commented publicly on Storm's case, nor had he indicated that he planned to hunt a presidential pardon. Polymarket's event deal on possible Trump pardons before 2027 featured several crypto industry figures, including former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon, but not Storm.
Storm's lawyers and prosecutors are scheduled to return to court for a conference on Jan. 22 to debate the case.
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