Paradigm commits to donate $1.25 million to support Tornado Cash co-founders in their fight against the U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit

ChainCatcher news, Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang announced that the firm will donate $1.25 million to support Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm's legal defense against a lawsuit in the United States.

Huang wrote on X on Wednesday: "The prosecution's case threatens to hold software developers criminally liable for the misconduct of third parties, which would have a chilling effect on cryptocurrency and other fields. We must stand with Storm."

Storm co-founded the Ethereum-based cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash with Roman Semenov, both of whom were charged by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2023 with money laundering-related offenses.

Prosecutors claim that Storm "knowingly assisted" in laundering over $1 billion in illegal funds through the cryptocurrency mixer, including funds related to the North Korean cybercrime group Lazarus. The founders of Tornado Cash each face a maximum of 45 years in prison.