Ethereum Foundation Donation to Legal Defense of Alexey Pertsev

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) announced a $1.25 million donation to support the legal defense of Alexey Pertsev, emphasizing that “Privacy is normal, and writing code is not a crime.”

> The EF is donating $1.25M to the legal defense of Alexey Pertsev.
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> Privacy is normal, and writing code is not a crime.
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> You can contribute to @alex_pertsev’s defense here: Donation Link Tweet Link
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> — Ethereum Foundation (@ethereumfndn) February 26, 2025

Pertsev is currently appealing his conviction and 64-month prison sentence for money laundering, which was handed down in May 2024. He was conditionally released from pretrial detention earlier this month and is now under electronic monitoring.

The Foundation’s donation follows Paradigm’s $1.25 million support for Roman Storm, co-founder of Tornado Cash, against US prosecution. This move was prompted by concerns about the prosecution’s case, which Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang argues could criminally implicate software developers for third-party actions.

In December, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin donated 50 ETH (about $170,000) to the legal defense fund for Storm and Pertsev through the Juicebox project Free Pertsev and Storm.

> Thank you @VitalikButerin for helping us end the year on a good note, with a 50 ETH donation to both Roman and Alexey’s legal aid.
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> ZK is the future. Tweet Link
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> — Free Pertsev & Storm (@FreeAlexeyRoman) December 31, 2024

Pertsev was arrested by Dutch authorities in 2022 linked to the crypto mixing service, and in May 2024, he was found guilty of money laundering. US prosecutors later charged Storm and Roman Semenov with related offenses, with Storm out on bail and Semenov still at large. The charges followed the US Treasury’s designation of Tornado Cash in August 2022, noting its use in laundering over $7 billion of crypto assets by bad actors, including North Korean hackers.