Roman Storm requests $1.5M emergency funding as Tornado cash trial advances

Roman Storm, co-creator of the Tornado Cash protocol, is seeking an additional $1.5 million to cover his growing legal expenses as his high-profile trial enters its third week. In a post on X on July 26, Storm made an urgent plea for the funds, explaining that the costs associated with his defense had escalated rapidly.

Storm noted the “crazy” nature of his request but highlighted the toll the trial has taken on his legal team. “We’ve forgotten what normal sleep feels like. Every hour counts, and so do the costs,” he wrote, emphasizing the ongoing and intense nature of the defense effort. The crypto community has already generously contributed, raising over $3.9 million for his legal costs since the trial began on July 14 in Manhattan, New York.

Roman Storm faces mounting legal costs, requests $1.5M more

Storm’s legal battle has broader implications for the future of decentralized finance (DeFi) and crypto privacy tools. His trial could establish a dangerous precedent for criminalizing open-source protocols like Tornado Cash, which has been widely used for privacy-enhancing services. The case threatens to restrict privacy rights while potentially stifling innovation in DeFi.

However, Tornado Cash and similar crypto privacy tools have been under scrutiny due to their use by illicit actors. For instance, the North Korean state-backed Lazarus Group used Tornado Cash, leading the U.S. Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to sanction the protocol in August 2022. This decision was later overturned in January 2023, when Tornado Cash users filed a civil action, and the protocol was removed from OFAC’s blacklist in March.

Funds raised and legal strategy

Storm’s website indicates that over $3.2 million has been raised to date to support his Legal Defense Fund, with 65% of his updated $5 million goal already met. Additionally, the Ethereum Foundation has reached its $750,000 goal to assist Storm’s legal defense.

The trial in the Southern District of New York is expected to conclude by August 11, with U.S. prosecutors arguing that Storm conspired to launder money, violated U.S. sanctions, and operated an unlicensed money-transmitting business in relation to his role in developing Tornado Cash.

Storm’s defense team counters that Tornado Cash was never a business but a decentralized, immutable protocol beyond his control. They are also relying on a 2019 Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) guideline that stated developers of anonymizing software do not need to register as money transmitters. Furthermore, they are invoking the First Amendment, arguing that the right to write and publish code is protected as free speech under U.S. law.

The future of Tornado Cash co-creators

Storm co-founded Tornado Cash with Alexey Pertsev and Roman Semenov in 2019. Pertsev was convicted of money laundering in May 2024 in the Netherlands and is currently appealing the verdict. He has been released from Dutch custody under strict conditions, including electronic monitoring.

Roman Semenov, meanwhile, remains at large and is currently listed on the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) wanted list.