Crypto Developer Reports Detention in Turkey

An Argentine developer known as Fede’s intern has reported his detention in the Turkish city of Izmir. According to him, local authorities accuse him of “facilitating the misuse of Ethereum.”

I’m in Turkey, Izmir. They are telling my lawyer that I helped people to misuse @ethereum and I might have a charge. You can imagine what it means. It’s obviously wrong, we are just infra builders.

I can’t say much because I don’t have information and I don’t know if I will…

— Fede’s intern 🥊 (@fede_intern) August 10, 2025

He claims that the charges were brought by the Turkish Ministry of Internal Affairs. The specialist added that he is ready to cooperate with the authorities.

So we now have more information. The minister of internal affairs of Turkey is saying I helped people misuse @ethereum. I’m fully open to cooperate with any authorities from Turkey or any country, we didn’t help anybody do anything, but we will also defend ourselves.

— Fede’s intern 🥊 (@fede_intern) August 10, 2025

“It’s obviously wrong, we are just infrastructure developers,” he stated.

According to Fede’s intern, he is receiving assistance from a team of lawyers. He hopes to leave the country soon and head to Europe.

Some X users have expressed doubts about the veracity of his statements. One user, under the pseudonym 0xCenk, noted that there is “no legal basis” for detention on such charges.

Not sure if you’re intentionally misleading the CT crowd or it’s a lost in translation moment. There is zero legal basis for being detained on “helping people misuse Ethereum” as the country largely uses existing commercial code, consumer law and Penal code for crypto cases.

— Cenk (@0xCenk) August 10, 2025

In response to the doubts, the developer wrote that he will share details after leaving the country and with his lawyer’s permission. 

According to his X profile, Fede’s intern is associated with the investment firm Lambda Class and the blockchain solutions company Aligned.

Back in June, Turkey’s Ministry of Finance prepared strict cryptocurrency transaction rules to combat money laundering and financial crimes.