Tomorrow, a jury will decide if writing code is a criminal offense. Roman built something he couldn’t control and now he’s facing prison for it. If they convict him, every dev who’s worked on Ethereum is at risk. OFAC already said the contracts aren’t sanctionable, but that doesn’t matter if the jury doesn’t understand how Ethereum works. This case will decide if we’re still allowed to build permissionless tech in the US. Privacy is normal. Code is free speech. Free @rstormsf.

Some key milestones during the past 10 years of Ethereum. 2013: White paper drops, smart contracts & dApps envisioned. 2014: ICO raises $18M in 42 days. 2015: Mainnet launches July 30. 2016: DAO hack leads to hard fork; ETH/ETC split. 2017: Bull run sparks DeFi boom. 2021: NFT Summer. 2022: The Merge. PoS upgrade cuts energy 99%. 2024: Spot ETH ETFs approved. Today: 96M+ wallets, $80B TVL, 15M+ active users. What’s in store for the next 10 years?

Cheers to 10 years of Ethereum with 100% uptime! The last decade has been incredibly exciting with many interesting challenges. It's such a privilege to call myself an Ethereum core developer and I can't imagine working on other protocol.

believe in somETHing

NYC people, there are around 3 days left of the Roman Storm Tornado Cash trial. Show up to court, 40 Foley Square, room 110, to watch how history is made you can come in and out as you wish, bring ID, warm clothes, be ready to leave your phone at the door

You either get why the fight for Tornado Cash is existential for crypto, or you don't get crypto.

Ethereum core developer @preston_vanloon took the stand to testify in the defense of @rstormsf This is why I love Ethereum - ETH is being built with a vicious commitment to values and freedom. Rainbows and unicorns in the front, but claws and teeth in the back.

Dragonfly invested into PepperSec, Inc., the developers of Tornado Cash, in August of 2020. We made this investment because we believe in the importance of open-source privacy-preserving technology. Prior to our investment, we obtained an outside legal opinion that confirmed that Tornado Cash as built complied with the law, under the guidance given by FinCEN in 2019. The government has now stated in open court that they are contemplating charges against Dragonfly for having invested into the Tornado Cash team in 2020. On counsel’s advice, we have refrained from public comment. But we can no longer remain silent. We believe deeply in Americans’ right to privacy, and the lack of it remains one of crypto’s largest unsolved problems. We therefore stand by our investment. We did not operate or exercise any control over Tornado Cash, we had no contact with any malicious users, we always encouraged our portfolio companies to follow the law, and we maintain that Tornado Cash itself has a lawful right to exist—a view reinforced by Van Loon v. Department of the Treasury and OFAC’s subsequent rescission of sanctions. Charging a venture firm for a portfolio company’s alleged misconduct would be unprecedented, especially under these circumstances. In 2023 we received a DOJ subpoena and have fully cooperated with the government’s investigation of Tornado Cash, confident that we have always complied with the law. The DOJ has made clear that we are not ourselves a target of their investigation. As with every investment, we provided PepperSec the same advice and support we offer all portfolio companies. We believe the government’s statement in court today was primarily to undermine a defense of Tornado Cash—to make it more difficult for the defense to call Tom to testify on the stand. After all of this time—years later—bringing charges against Dragonfly would be outrageous, contrary to the facts and the law, and would induce a chilling effect onto all investment into crypto and privacy-preserving technologies in America. We don’t believe the DOJ would actually bring such absurd and groundless charges. But if they do, we intend to vigorously defend ourselves.

Many years ago, Nelly gave me an NFT of the Validator. It was my first NFT and I still use it for my ENS PFP! Thanks again, @ArtbyNelly

No one tell @terencechain about this. He already responds to github notifications faster than I can read them 😂