Solana Policy Institute Donates $500K to Tornado Co-founders Storm and Pertsev

The Solana Policy Institute, a nonprofit advocacy group for the Solana ecosystem, has pledged $500,000 to support the legal defense of Tornado Cash co-founders Roman Storm and Alexey ￰0￱ donation adds to a growing pool of funds from across the crypto industry aimed at challenging the convictions of the developers behind the controversial privacy ￰1￱ was found guilty earlier this month of operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, while Pertsev was convicted in 2024 of money laundering for his role in Tornado Cash’s ￰2￱ protocol, designed to allow users to obscure the origin and destination of their digital assets, has been at the center of legal and regulatory debates over crypto ￰3￱ Solana Policy Institute confirmed its commitment in a statement on Thursday, saying the money would help cover Storm’s post-trial motions and Pertsev’s appeal ￰4￱ Raised Through Community Efforts The crypto community has already mobilized significant ￰5￱ “Free Roman Storm” fund has raised $5.5 million so far, leaving it just $1.5 million short of its target.

S torm himself made a public appeal in July , posting on X that he needed an additional $1.5 million to keep up with legal ￰6￱ has come from multiple corners of the ￰7￱ core developer Federico Carrone pledged $500,000 shortly after being released from detention in Turkey earlier this ￰8￱ Ethereum Foundation has also committed heavily , donating $500,000 in June and promising to match up to $750,000 in community ￰9￱ Storm’s conviction, the Foundation doubled down, offering another $500,000 in matching ￰10￱ co-founder Vitalik Buterin contributed two donations totaling 150 Ether—valued at over $673,000 at current prices—further underscoring the high-profile backing behind Storm’s legal ￰11￱ Receives Broader Industry Support Beyond Ethereum leaders, other groups and individuals have stepped ￰12￱ July, Meta Cartel DAO announced it had emptied its entire treasury to aid Storm’s defense, while Julian Zawistowski, founder of the Golem project, confirmed a donation of 50 Ether, worth around $224,000.

Venture capital firm Paradigm also pledged $1.25 million in January. Co-founder Matt Huang warned at the time that holding developers accountable for how third parties use open-source software could have a “chilling effect” on innovation within crypto and ￰13￱ contributions now spanning multiple blockchain communities, Storm and Pertsev’s legal battles are shaping up to be a defining moment in how courts treat developers of decentralized privacy tools.