The Solana Policy Institute, as a non-profit advocacy organization for the Solana project, pledged to donate $500,000 to the legal defense of Tornado Cash founders Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev. This is part of a growing wave of support from the crypto community.
Storm was convicted on August 6 for operating an unlicensed money transmission business, while Pertsev was convicted of money laundering for assisting in the development of Tornado Cash.
The Solana Policy Institute states that this $500,000 donation will help Storm and Pertsev appeal.
The free Roman Storm legal defense fund has raised $5.5 million through community fundraising, just $1.5 million short of its goal.
The Ethereum community responds actively.
Ethereum core developer Federico Carrone pledged to donate $500,000 and called for support for Storm after being detained in Turkey.
The Ethereum Foundation also pledged to match donations up to $500,000 and donated $500,000 in June.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin also contributed two donations totaling 150 Ether.
Support from other community members.
Bill Warren, a developer from Meta Cartel DAO, stated that all funds from his group are used to support Storm's legal case.
Golem project founder Julian Zawistowski confirmed that his team donated 50 Ether.
Investment firm Paradigm pledged to donate $1.25 million in January, stating that holding developers accountable could have a chilling effect on the crypto space and beyond.
The case affects developers' risk considerations.
Legal experts condemn this ruling, which may have adverse effects on open-source developers.
The Solana Policy Institute expresses concern about the government's logic of accusation, stating that even if developers lack control over the code, they must bear legal responsibility.
If the government can sue developers for others' misuse of software, it would fundamentally change developers' risk considerations.
The Blockchain Association in Washington expressed similar views, stating that this ruling sets a dangerous precedent for open-source software developers.
