Tornado Cash developer to be held in prison for several months

A Dutch court has ordered the arrest of Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev for 90 days, during which time a public hearing will be held to decide the fate of the arrested IT specialist.

As it became known, on August 24, a closed court hearing was held, at which the decision to arrest Pertsev for 90 days was made. Interestingly, the lawyers of the Tornado Cash developer, who has not yet been officially charged with any crime, negotiated the possibility of Pertsev’s release from prison on bail, but the court rejected such requests.

It is worth noting that the cryptocurrency community, human rights activists, and well-known developers disagree with the court’s decision and demand the immediate release of Alexey Pertsev. Users believe that the developer has become a victim of US political repression. «This is like saying that the inventor of the knife is guilty of murder. This is absurd,» said one of the participants of the rally in support of Pertsev.

Tornado Cash (unlike the Blender mixer) is open source and decentralized, so the mixer does not belong to a specific person or organization. That is why the project developer cannot be held liable for the illegal activities of cryptocurrency criminals.