Rally against the arrest of Tornado Cash crypto mixer developer held in Amsterdam

On Saturday, August 20, a rally in support of the developer of the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash was held at Dam Square in Amsterdam. The arrest of Alexey Pertsev caused a strong response in the cryptocurrency community, and the organizers of the rally stated that the authorities' actions set a dangerous precedent.

According to local media, the rally was attended by about 50 people. They demanded the release of the developer and stated that «open source is not a crime». One of the protesters noted that the incident with Pertsev «creates a deterrent effect that goes against innovation and against the cryptocurrency community.»

«Pertsev is just a developer. Theauthorities should prosecute the real criminals,» emphasized Web3 developer Naomi Scettini. According to her, he is not responsible for the criminals who use the code for illegal activities. «It's like saying that the inventor of the knife is responsible for murders. It’s absurd,» she added.

Another protester, blockchain project manager Rodrigo Zapata, noted that Pertsev’s arrest could have consequences for developers in other areas. He called for updating legislation «for the open source era.»

As a reminder, on August 8, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added the Tornado Cash mixer website to the sanctions list on suspicion of cryptocurrency laundering. The agency banned Americans and state-owned enterprises from using the platform’s services. After that, key blockchain infrastructure services joined the list of organizations that block access to the cryptocurrency mixer. However, this did not prevent a huge number of organizations from defending Alexei Pertsev.