Tornado Cash Developer to Stay Behind Bars Until February

Alexey Pertsev is accused of facilitating money laundering by developing the Tornado Cash protocol.

Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev behind bars in a blue jail cell with checkered flooring
  • Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev will stay in jail in the Netherlands until at least February.
  • Pertsev is facing accusations that the protocol he developed has facilitated money laundering.
  • Tornado Cash is a decentralized crypto mixer. Pertsev has no control over it.

Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev has been ordered to stay in jail until at least the next session of the ongoing hearing in February. This comes after a Dutch court determined that heโ€™s a flight risk.

Pertsev, a Russian national living in the Netherlands, has been detained since August following the U.S. Treasuryโ€™s ban on the Tornado Cash protocol. The American authorities said it is a tool for money laundering and supports North Korean hackers.ย 

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Pertsev is accused of facilitating money laundering by writing the Tornado Cash code. The protocol is an open-source, decentralized crypto mixer built on the Ethereum blockchain. It mixes identifiable funds with others so as to conceal the original source of coins. Because the protocol is decentralized and permissionless, Pertsev has no power over it.

Pertsevโ€™s situation is in stark contrast to other potential bad actors that have wreaked havoc in the crypto markets this year. Edward Snowden, the famous U.S. whistleblower, compared Pertsevโ€™s arrest to former CEO of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX Sam Bankman-Fried. Snowden said Bankman-Friedโ€™s political connections are what allows him to stay free despite potentially committing multiple crimes.

โ€œThe White House sanctions and arrests kids for the โ€œcrimeโ€ of building privacy tools to protect you, while โ€œregulatorsโ€ were quietly palling around with the thieves who just robbed 5 million people. The difference? The thieves were big political donors,โ€ he said in a tweet two weeks ago.

Bankman-Friedโ€™s FTX is accused of mishandling up to $10 billion in customer funds, among other potentially criminal business practices. He is currently in the Bahamas under the supervision of local regulators.

Itโ€™s worth noting that the people responsible for the biggest crashes, or at least shady business practices, in this yearโ€™s crypto bear market have yet to be detained. These include defunct crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capitalโ€™s founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, Terra Lunaโ€™s Do Kwon, and bankrupt lender Celsiusโ€™ former CEO Alex Mashinsky.

On the Flipside

  • Itโ€™s unclear when Pertsev will be released from jail.

Why You Should Care

Alexey Pertsevโ€™s situation is closely followed by the crypto community. If heโ€™s found guilty, this would potentially create a precedent for other crypto founders to be arrested on similar grounds.

This article is for information purposes only and should not be considered trading or investment advice. Nothing herein shall be construed as financial, legal, or tax advice. Trading forex, cryptocurrencies, and CFDs pose a considerable risk of loss.

Author
Arturas Skur

Arturas Skur is a cryptocurrency news reporter at DailyCoin who covers Web 3.0 domains, DeFi, and Ethereum Layer-2s. With over five years of experience in journalism and public relations, Arturas brings his critical thinking and analytical abilities to deliver insightful news stories. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, playing with his dog, and reading.

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