Ethereum co-founder reiterates support for Roman Storm, citing privacy

The Tornado Cash developer was found guilty of operating an unlicensed transmitter business in August and could still be retried on two counts on which a jury deadlocked.

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain, has doubled down on his support of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm, who could be retried on two felony charges sometime this year.

In a Friday X post, Buterin warned his followers about privacy from both the public and governments, adding that he had used Tornado Cash to make transactions in furtherance of this principle. The Ethereum co-founder has supported Storm since before his criminal trial, saying that developing software for others to use for privacy was not a crime. 

“I have personally used Roman's software to make transactions — to buy software for my own use, without my name ending up in corporate databases, to support charities that protect valuable human rights, and other goals,” said Buterin. “Roman has been a principled and steadfast developer of these principles. Unlike some others, who use these causes as an excuse to make profit and write software that has flashy advertising but is broken under the hood [...]”

Read more