On the decentralized fundraising site Juicebox, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin appears to have given 30 ETH ($111,000) to a legal defense fund for Tornado Cash creators Alexey Pertsev and Roman Storm, as on-chain data indicates.

Support for Tornado Cash Developers

The transaction was made at 1:58 am EST to the “Free Alexey & Roman” legal fund on Juicebox, using the address vitalik.eth, which is associated with Buterin.

To assist inventors of the crypto mixer Tornado Cash—who face allegations of money laundering—the fund has so far received 591 ETH ($2.2 million) for legal assistance.

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Alexey Pertsev was sentenced by Dutch judges this month to 64 months in jail for his involvement in processing $1.2 billion via the crypto mixer from July 2019 to August 2022, therefore determining he enabled money laundering.

The U.S.-sanctioned mixer hides on-chain tracks.

Roman Storm, another developer associated with Tornado Cash, is still under custody in the United States following his 2023 arrest; September is set aside for his trial.

Buterin sent 10 ETH (about $30,980 at the time) to AssangeDAO, a legal fund on Juicebox to help Julian Assange in 2022.