Tornado Cash Devs appeals conviction with $500,000 from the Solana Policy Institute

The Solana Policy Institute, a leading crypto lobbying group, announced Thursday it would donate $500,000 to support the legal defense of Rome’s Storm and Alexy Pertef.

That’s what the storm was like Convicted Earlier this month, Manhattan is a crime running an illegal remittance business, currently facing up to five years in federal prisons. Peltsev was sentenced to more than five years in prison last year after a Dutch court found him. Crime Money laundering.

The legal distress of both tornado cash developers has been raising concerns in the crypto industry and the wider technology community for many years. Advocates have long warned that successful convictions of either person regarding the development and maintenance of tornado cash platforms could have a significant impact on software developers in any context.

“These prosecutions continue to set horrific precedents that threaten the software development industry,” said Miller White House Levine, CEO of the Solana Policy Institute, in a blog post Thursday, the donation. “If the government can prosecute developers by creating neutral tools that others misuse, it will fundamentally change developer risk calculations.”

The Trump administration has been actively taken in many ways. Procrypt approach Since January, the President’s Department of Justice has chosen Push forward It was first filed in 2023 by the Biden administration due to criminal charges against the storm.

However, in a clear change in policy, a senior DOJ official told an audience of Crypto industry leaders last week what federal prosecutors do. I won’t pursue it anymore They filed accusations of successfully convicting the storm A developer of “truly decentralized” software that does not have custody of user funds but is used by criminal organizations to wash digital assets.

Crypto policy leaders had to walk the tightrope while celebrating the Trump administration’s pro-crypto moves and warning about the risks raised when Storm’s beliefs were supported. The true test takes place during Storm’s appeal. This makes it clear whether Trump DOJ has undergone a real change in mind on the subject of distributed software developers and criminal liability.

This issue has become increasingly existential for the crypto industry as a whole. Wednesday, 114 crypto companies and high-tech bee groups – including Solana Policy Research Institute – letter They warn the Senate Banking Committee that they will collectively protest against the upcoming Cryptocurrency Structure Bill if the DOJ is not explicitly exempt from criminal liability for the claims used to make the storm a prisoner.

Today’s donation also hit the tension within the industry that has been brewed for weeks.

Tornado Cash runs on the Ethereum Network, and members of the Ethereum community have long been It’s vocals In support of Arashi and Pertsev’s legal defense.

But in recent weeks, some industry insiders – especially Bitcoin Pioneer Erik Voorhees, founder of Crypto Exchange. Shapeshift and Venice AI– Solana’s famous booster, long a Rival Network Ethereum will step up to support cash developers in tornadoes in the name of defending broader cryptographic principles.

Today’s donations by the Solana Institute of Policy Studies will seem to counter that criticism. However, leadership of previously established organizations this yearand has particularly deep roots in the advocacy of software developers in general, for Tornado Cash developers. in particular.