The Arbitrum DAO recently withdrew a proposal initially set to fund the legal defense of Tornado Cash developers Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev. This proposal had intended to use approximately $1.3 million in ARB tokens from the community wallet, not only for legal defense but also for public relations and advocacy of privacy-preserving technologies.
The proposal, led by pseudonymous delegate DK, was introduced on March 7, aiming to provide a “robust legal defense” for the developers, Storm and Pertsev. It involved plans to allocate between 200,000 and 600,000 ARB tokens, translating to an estimated value of $400,000 to $1.2 million, from the community wallet to cover their legal expenses. An Arbitrum spokesperson later confirmed the proposal’s removal at the author’s request without disclosing the specifics behind this decision.
Tornado Cash, according to allegations, facilitated the laundering of over $1 billion in illegal funds, including transactions linked to the notorious hacking group Lazarus Group. The U.S. has subsequently charged the platform’s developers with multiple offenses, including money laundering, sanctions violations, and operating an unlicensed money transfer business. Arrests of the developers ensued, with Pertsev being detained in the Netherlands in August 2022. Subsequently, Storm was arrested by the FBI in August 2023, while Roman Semenov, a third co-founder, remains at large.
The legal defense efforts for Storm and Pertsev faced further challenges when their GoFundMe campaign was abruptly terminated on February 16. The crowdfunding platform cited a breach of its terms of service as the reason for the cancellation, significantly impacting the fundraising activities for the developers’ legal expenses.
However, the initial funding proposal’s withdrawal from the Arbitrum DAO has not halted the community’s involvement. Discussions are ongoing about alternative methods to support the legal defenses of the Tornado Cash developers. Among the considered options is the potential allocation of funds to Coin Center, a non-profit focusing on cryptocurrency policy advocacy. A new proposal is expected to be presented in the ArbitrumDAO forum shortly, indicating the community’s commitment to addressing this issue.
The development comes after Proof of Play, creators of the game, Pirate Nation, announced their intention to create an Arbitrum-based network for on-chain games and decentralized applications (dapps). This development is set to transition Pirate Nation from Polygon to Arbitrum and encourages other developers to participate in this growing ecosystem focused on blockchain gaming enhancements.
