The Ethereum Foundation and Keyring Network have launched an initiative to raise funds for Tornado Cash developers Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev amid their respective legal battles.
According to an October 10 announcement, the two organizations have launched fundraising efforts to “pioneer open-source legal defense funding.”
The announcement also states that the first three months of fees from zkVerified permissioned vaults on the Ethereum mainnet will go to Storm and Pertsev’s legal defense.
“We believe privacy is a fundamental right, and that open-source developers should not face criminal liability for writing code,” said Alex McFarlane, CEO of Keyring Network.
“By donating our early protocol fees to the defense of Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev, we’re signaling that zkVerified DeFi can uphold compliance, safety, and privacy while standing in solidarity with the builders who paved the way,” he added.
Following the news, Pertsev took to X to say he is “beyond grateful” for the donations.
“We still have a long way to go in this appeal as the Court has decided that an additional investigation has to be done,” the developer wrote. “We keep working towards justice, and your help is invaluable to #CodeWithoutFear.”
Storm was indicted in August 2023 on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering, money laundering, and sanctions violations, and was found guilty on one criminal charge in August 2025.
Federal prosecutors alleged Storm laundered and concealed more than $1 billion through Tornado Cash — including hundreds of millions for the Lazarus Group, North Korea’s state-sponsored malware collective.
“Roman Storm and Roman Semenov allegedly operated Tornado Cash and knowingly facilitated this money laundering,” then-U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in an August 2023 press release.
As Storm and Pertsev continue their legal battles, the outcome could shape how far developers can go in building privacy-preserving protocols without crossing into criminal territory.
