The founder of Tornado Cash mixer is out of jail! Court suspends Alexey Pertsev’s pretrial detention, V God retweeted support
Alexey Pertsev, the founder of Ethereum currency mixing protocol Tornado Cash, was granted temporary release by the court and can prepare an appeal under electronic monitoring. Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin retweeted the post to express support.
(Preliminary summary: The U.S. court has lifted sanctions against the currency mixer Tornado Cash, and Vitalik expects the founder to be released)
(Background supplement: Tornado Cash is on trial in the United States with a "maximum sentence of 45 years." Is writing a program a money laundering crime?)
Alexey Pertsev, the founder of the Ethereum currency mixing protocol Tornado Cash, announced in August 2022 He was arrested and imprisoned by the police in the Netherlands last month. For a long time, the community that supports the spirit of open source software has continued to support Pertsev.
After nearly two and a half years in prison, Pertsev said on X last night that he will be temporarily released under electronic monitoring following a Dutch court ruling and is expected to be released from prison at 10 a.m. on February 7.
"Dear friends, at 10 am on Friday, February 7, I will be free!
Although it is not true freedom, it is better than being in prison. Today, the Dutch court suspended my pretrial detention under electronic monitoring. This will give me the opportunity to continue preparing my appeal and fighting for justice."
Alexey Pertsev in 2024 He was sentenced to 64 months in prison by a Dutch court in May on money laundering charges, which he has said he will appeal.
Dear Friends, on Friday 7 February at 10 am I will be free! It is not real freedom, but it is better than prison. Today, a Dutch court suspended my pretrial detention under the condition of electronic monitoring. This will give me a chance to work on my appeal and fight for…
— Alexey Pertsev (@alex_pertsev) February 6, 2025
The encryption community supports "coding freedom"
Pertsev emphasized in the post "#FREEDOM TO CODE" (Coding Freedom), this sentence has become an important slogan for the encryption community to support developers. Many people in the industry believe that the arrests and charges against the developers of Tornado Cash may pose a threat to open source software development and code freedom.
As a well-known currency mixer, Tornado Cash was included in the sanctions list by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in August 2022 because it was allegedly used by North Korean hackers to launder more than $1 billion, prohibiting Americans from using the protocol. Co-founders Alexey Pertsev, Roman Storm and Roman Semenov have also been charged with money laundering and other crimes.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin (V God) also forwarded this news and publicly expressed support.
No man left behind.@rstormsf and @alex_pertsev next.
Tornado Cash itself won an important case today:img/datapic/zc/2025122918312532 https://t.co/zg69SmZY8K
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) January 22, 2025
