TL;DR
- Vitalik Buterin revealed a letter supporting Roman Storm, co-founder of Twister Money, who’s awaiting sentencing in the US after being convicted in August.
- Storm faces a most sentence of as much as 5 years in jail for cash transmission; the jury didn’t attain a verdict on the cash laundering and sanctions costs.
- The authorized protection fund raised greater than $6.39 million in 2025, with contributions from Buterin, the Ethereum Basis, the Solana Coverage Institute, and different trade individuals.
Vitalik Buterin revealed a letter supporting Roman Storm, developer and co-founder of Twister Money, who’s awaiting sentencing in the US after being convicted in August for conspiracy to function as an unlicensed cash transmitter.
Storm may obtain a most sentence of as much as 5 years in jail. The case started in August 2023, when the Division of Justice filed costs associated to the operation of the non-custodial mixer Twister Money.
The jury discovered Storm responsible solely on the cash transmission cost. It failed to achieve a verdict on the extra costs of cash laundering and sanctions violations. The developer stays free on bail after a choose decided there was no flight threat. Authorities declare Twister Money was used to launder greater than $1 billion in illicit funds, though the software program operates with out custody and with out direct management by builders over the funds.
Buterin and Ethereum Fund Roman Storm’s Authorized Protection
Within the letter, Buterin centered his assist on the technical nature of Storm’s work. He acknowledged that the judicial course of targets software program improvement somewhat than the appropriation or direct dealing with of belongings. He detailed that he used instruments developed by Storm to hold out reliable funds, equivalent to buying technical software program and donating to human rights organizations, with out these transactions being logged in company or authorities databases.
His assist additionally extends to the monetary stage. In December 2024, Buterin donated 50 ETH, valued at roughly $170,000 on the time, to Storm’s authorized protection fund. The Ethereum Basis contributed $500,000 in June 2025 and dedicated to matching an extra $750,000 in neighborhood donations. In October 2025, the Ethereum Basis and Keyring launched a devoted authorized fund for Twister Money builders.
Storm’s protection fund raised greater than $6.39 million throughout 2025. Contributions embody $500,000 from researcher Federico Carrone and one other $500,000 from the Solana Coverage Institute, supposed to assist each Storm and Alexey Pertsev, one other co-founder of the protocol. Pertsev was convicted within the Netherlands in 2024 and sentenced to 64 months in jail on cash laundering costs associated to $1.2 billion in transactions.
An Assault on Privateness and Builders
A number of authorized instances are underway towards builders of privateness instruments. In the US, the founders of Samourai Pockets have been arrested in 2024. Keonne Rodriguez acquired a five-year sentence in November 2025, and William Lonergan Hill was sentenced to 4 years. Greater than 110 entities from the crypto sector referred to as in 2025 for specific authorized protections for software program builders in U.S. laws.
