Ethereum Foundation and Keyring Join Forces to Fund Tornado Cash Defense-Here’s How!

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The Ethereum Foundation and Keyring Network have decided to do something revolutionary: combine their powers to create a funding mechanism that makes the world of privacy-focused, open-source developers just a little bit less broke. If you’re wondering where the money is coming from, look no further than the zkVerified DeFi vaults, which are now funneling their fees to support the legal defense of Tornado Cash’s developers. Yes, you heard that right. Money is being used to protect the folks behind one of crypto’s most controversial privacy protocols.

For the first two months, every dime from these vaults will be sent straight to the defense funds for the creators of Tornado Cash. Consider it a crypto Robin Hood move-except instead of stealing from the rich, they’re just hoping to keep developers out of jail. 🍀

Institutions, Privacy, and the Ultimate DeFi Defense

The dynamic duo-Ethereum Foundation and Keyring Network-have cooked up a scheme to fund the development of privacy-enhancing tools that the world doesn’t quite know how to handle. You’ve got Keyring, a company that’s all about helping big financial institutions dabble in decentralized finance (DeFi) while staying “compliant” (yeah, that’s a fun word in crypto). They use snazzy zero-knowledge proofs to verify users without actually telling anyone who they are. It’s like the best-kept secret in tech!

Keyring has recently launched zkVerified vaults, which are essentially DeFi vaults on steroids, but for safelisted investors. These vaults are yield-generating and super secure-like, vaults you’d imagine secret agents keeping their files in. 🕵️‍♂️

The mission behind all this is to fund the legal defense of the Tornado Cash developers-Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev-who have become the faces of the battle for open-source, privacy-driven code. The Ethereum Foundation is backing them up as the strategic partner, handling the logistics of this fund and testing it as the future of privacy protocol defense. A noble cause, right? Let’s see how long this “strategic” partnership lasts. 🍿

Tornado Cash (@TornadoCash) is a decentralized privacy protocol using zero-knowledge proofs to break the onchain link between sender and receiver.

It is designed to provide privacy on a public blockchain.

Ethereum is for privacy.

– Ethereum (@ethereum) August 19, 2025

With Keyring throwing in a hefty contribution (two months of all protocol fees from those vaults), and Ethereum Foundation handling the logistics, it’s a truly modern day case of “privacy for all”…unless, of course, you’re a government official with no sense of humor about financial privacy. 😏

The Developers Who Just Wanted to Help-And Got Arrested

Back in 2019, Roman Storm, Alexey Pertsev, and Roman Semenov launched Tornado Cash, an open-source cryptocurrency mixer designed to bring some much-needed privacy to Ethereum transactions. You know, the kind of privacy that most people who aren’t laundering money want. The goal was simple: give users the ability to mask their wallet transactions on the blockchain. Revolutionary, right? Except not everyone agrees.

Vitalik Buterin, the Ethereum overlord, thought it was a brilliant idea. Others, however, such as those with an overly simplistic view of the world, believed Tornado Cash was a tool for nefarious actors, like North Korean hackers who want to launder billions of dollars in cryptocurrency. Because of course, every innovation is either a revolutionary breakthrough or a criminal mastermind’s wet dream. 🙄

Fast-forward to August 2022. The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) decided that Tornado Cash was a little too spicy for their taste and sanctioned it. They even made it illegal for Americans to use the protocol. The result? Storm and Pertsev were arrested and charged with facilitating money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. Semenov, on the other hand, is still hiding somewhere-probably updating his GitHub. 🤫

Why the Crypto Community Should Be Alarmed

The legal battles these developers are facing have turned into an absolute money pit. And frankly, this case has left the crypto world feeling a little queasy, especially when it comes to the question: “Can you arrest a developer for writing open-source code?” The verdict here seems to be: Yes, apparently, yes you can.

But wait, there’s more! In August, the Ethereum Foundation generously pledged $500,000 to fund the defense of these developers. That’s not chump change-it’s the equivalent of buying a small island in some tax-haven country. 🏝️

The real kicker? This initiative might set a precedent for the entire industry. If it works, we could see a sustainable, market-driven funding mechanism for legal defenses in the future. And maybe, just maybe, we won’t have to rely on last-minute community donations that make us all feel awkward about asking for help. Think of it like an insurance policy, but for code that is-let’s face it-way cooler than anything you’ll find on your car.

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2025-10-10 20:29