The Solana Policy Institute (SPI) recently made headlines with their announcement of a $500,000 donation to the legal defense funds of Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev, the developers behind the sanctioned Tornado Cash crypto mixer. Storm was convicted on conspiracy charges for operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, while Pertsev received a 64-month prison sentence in the Netherlands for money laundering.
SPI CEO Miller Whitehouse-Levine expressed concern over the prosecutions, stating that they set a “chilling precedent that threatens the software development industry.” He argued that neither developer took custody of user assets nor maintained control over the protocol after deployment.
The Ethereum Foundation also showed support for Storm by pledging $500,000 to his legal defense fund, which has raised over $4.7 million towards a $7 million target. Foundation co-executive director Hsiao-Wei Wang emphasized that “privacy is normal, and writing code is not a crime,” urging the crypto community to contribute additional support.
Storm faces up to five years in prison for the money-transmitting conviction, with the possibility of facing more charges if prosecutors decide to retry him for money laundering conspiracy and sanctions violations. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Tornado Cash in 2022, alleging that $7 billion had been laundered through the platform since 2019, including by North Korea’s Lazarus Group hackers.
Legal experts and the Free Pertsev & Storm organization are concerned that the prosecutions could have broader implications for open-source development in the crypto ecosystem.
Challenges with cross-border evidence collection have complicated the case, with Storm’s defense revealing issues with evidence obtained from Dutch authorities following Pertsev’s arrest. The FBI’s extraction of Pertsev’s phone contained incomplete information, leading to concerns about the accuracy of the evidence presented in court.
Despite the legal challenges, Solana’s price action has shown signs of recovery, with a golden cross pattern forming on the SOL/BTC ratio. Historical precedent suggests that such patterns could lead to significant rallies, although diminishing returns may temper expectations as market capitalization grows.
In conclusion, the support from SPI and the Ethereum Foundation for Storm and Pertsev highlights the ongoing legal challenges faced by developers in the crypto industry. The outcome of these cases could have far-reaching implications for privacy developers and the future of open-source development.