It became known when the founder of the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash will be tried

Alexey Pertsev, the developer of the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash, who was indicted last year in the Netherlands, will appear in court on March 26 and 27 next year. This was confirmed by the district court hearing his case.

Pertsev was detained for nine months after his arrest in August 2022, two days after the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Tornado Cash, claiming that the crypto mixer facilitated money laundering, in particular by the North Korean cybercrime group Lazarus Group.

The arrest of the citizen of the Russian terrorist state was carried out on the order of the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD). In April, Pertsev was released under house arrest, and in May he was released on the condition that he would not leave the country and wear a GPS monitor.

In August, the U.S. Attorney’s Office indicted two of Tornado Cash’s co-founders, Roman Storm and Roman Semenov, alleging that the protocol they helped develop allowed them to launder more than $ 1 billion in illegal funds.

As for Pertsev, the judge will assess whether prosecutors and the defense have the necessary evidence before the trial begins. Pertsev and his lawyer will have the opportunity to request additional investigation. As a formality, the court will also consider whether Pertsev should be re-detained in custody until the trial begins.

As a reminder, the Tornado Cash litigation has caused excitement among DeFi software developers and raised the question of who regulators can hold accountable when it comes to cryptocurrency projects.