Roman Storm, co-founder of the Tornado Cash protocol, has issued an urgent plea for an additional $1.5 million to fund his legal defense as his high-stakes trial continues in New York. In a July 26 post on X, Storm warned supporters that legal fees are “piling up fast,” adding that his team is working nonstop. “It sounds crazy, but I need again ~$1.5mm,” he wrote.

Storm’s trial, now in its third week, is seen as a landmark case that could reshape the future of crypto privacy tools and open-source development. U.S. prosecutors claim Storm conspired to launder money, violated sanctions, and operated an unlicensed money-transmitting business through his role in Tornado Cash. His legal team argues the protocol is decentralized, immutable, and not a business — invoking First Amendment protections for publishing code and citing 2019 FinCEN guidance.

To date, over $3.9 million has been donated to Storm’s legal fund, including $750,000 from the Ethereum Foundation. His team is now aiming for $5 million as the trial heads toward a likely conclusion by August 11.

Tornado Cash, a crypto mixing tool, was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in 2022 over allegations it was used by North Korea’s Lazarus Group. Those sanctions were later overturned in early 2024 following a civil lawsuit.

Storm developed the protocol in 2019 alongside Alexey Pertsev and Roman Semenov. Pertsev was convicted of money laundering in the Netherlands in May and is appealing. Semenov remains on the FBI’s wanted list.

Storm’s case could set a critical precedent for how U.S. law treats decentralized software development and privacy in Web3.