The Solana Policy Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting Solana, has pledged $500,000 to help cover the legal costs of Tornado Cash co-founders Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev.
In its statement on Thursday, the group said the donation will support Storm, who is currently filing post-trial motions to overturn his conviction, and Pertsev, who is preparing an appeal.
Meanwhile, community fundraising efforts have gathered $5.5 million for the “Free Roman Storm” defense fund, leaving about $1.5 million to reach its target.
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Solana Policy Institute Steps In With $500K for Tornado Cash Defense
In July, Bill Warren, a developer and contributor to Meta Cartel DAO, revealed that the group had emptied its entire treasury though the exact amount was not disclosed to back Roman Storm’s legal defense.
That same month, Julian Zawistowski, founder of the Golem project, confirmed his team donated 50 Ether, worth over $224,000 at current prices.
Earlier in January, investment firm Paradigm contributed $1.25 million. At the time, co-founder Matt Huang warned that “holding software developers liable for how third parties use the product would have a chilling effect in crypto and beyond.”
