Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin has made generous donations of ETH, amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars, to Alexey Pertsev, a developer of Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixer that was previously sanctioned by the US government.

According to Etherscan data reported by crypto journalist Colin Wu, Buterin has donated a total of 100 ETH to Pertsev on two separate occasions, assisting him in covering his legal expenses.

“Vitalik has donated 50 ETH, valued at approximately $170,000, to Juicebox: Support Alexey Pertsev today. Currently, Juicebox: Support Alexey Pertsev has raised over 184 ETH. Alexey Pertsev, a Tornado Cash developer, is in need of additional funds to cover ongoing legal fees.

Vitalik has also donated another 50 ETH to Juicebox: Support Alexey Pertsev today, bringing the total to 100 ETH, valued at around $340,000.”

A dedicated page on X, aimed at supporting Tornado Cash developers, publicly expressed gratitude to Buterin for his donation.

In May 2024, Pertsev was sentenced to five years and four months in prison by a Dutch court for allegedly laundering billions of dollars.

The US government banned the use of Tornado Cash in 2022, citing concerns for national security. However, in November of the previous year, a US appeals court ruled in favor of Tornado Cash, effectively overturning the ban by declaring the actions taken by the Treasury Department against it as unlawful.

The judge in the case determined that smart contracts do not technically qualify as “property,” and therefore, the ban imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which grants the President the authority to “block any property in which any foreign country or a national thereof has any interest,” exceeded the limits of its power.