Whistleblower turned worldwide fugitive Edward Snowden right this moment backed and endorsed the authorized protection fund for the Twister Money founder.
In a Tuesday submit on Twitter, the exiled former CIA contractor requested followers to pitch in to assist Roman Storm, co-founder of the as soon as fashionable however fatally sanctioned cryptocurrency mixing service.
Yesterday, Storm mentioned on Twitter that he would launch a marketing campaign—within the type of a decentralized autonomous group (DAO)—to boost cash for a lawyer. Final 12 months, the U.S. Division of Justice arrested Storm and charged him with cash laundering for his half within the creation of Twister Money.
Twister Money was a preferred cryptocurrency coin mixing software that allowed customers to anonymously ship and obtain Ethereum, the second largest digital asset by market cap.
However the Division of the Treasury’s Workplace of Overseas Property Management (OFAC) in 2022 banned Individuals from utilizing the service, claiming that criminals had used it to launder soiled cash.
They then alleged that Storm and his colleague Roman Semenov laundered greater than $1 billion in prison proceeds. Developer Alex Pertsev was additionally arrested.
However the brand new fundraiser’s web site argues that “the arrests of Roman Storm and Alex Pertsev are thought of a direct assault on the open-source improvement area and should have devastating penalties for builders who write and publish code.”
“For those who might help, please assist,” Snowden mentioned in a retweet of Storm’s plea. “Privateness isn’t against the law.”
Snowden, who has been residing in exile in Russia since being charged by the U.S. authorities with espionage in 2013, has lengthy been a privateness and cryptocurrency advocate.
He mentioned final 12 months that the sanctioning of Twister Money was “deeply intolerant and profoundly authoritarian.”
Snowden additionally helped create the privateness coin Zcash and has spoken about how folks ought to use cryptocurrencies moderately than purchase them as an funding.
Snowden has additionally identified Bitcoin’s privateness drawback. The largest cryptocurrency by market cap is pseudonymous: a person’s identification isn’t recorded on the blockchain however each single transaction is.
Authorities are, due to this fact, in a position to observe down individuals who ship and obtain the digital coin if crucial.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.
