On Saturday, 20 August, a protest in support of Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev took place on Dam Square in Amsterdam. CoinDesk reports.
\n\n
On 12 August, Dutch authorities arrested an unnamed man on suspicion of involvement in laundering funds and concealing illicit financial flows through a cryptocurrency mixer. Later it emerged that the person was Pertsev.
\n\n
According to the publication, after a closed hearing the developer remained in custody for two weeks. The arrest of Pertsev sparked a backlash in the community. In announcing the protest, the initiative group said that the actions of the authorities create a dangerous precedent.
\n\n
According to media reports, more than 50 people attended the protest. They called for the developer’s release and stated that open-source code is not a crime. One of the protesters told the outlet that the incident with Pertsev “forms a chilling effect that runs counter to innovation and against the community”.
\n\n
“Alex is just a developer. They should pursue real criminals,” said Web3 developer Naomi Sketini.
\n\n
She said he bears no responsibility for criminals using the code for illegal activity.
\n\n
“It’s the same as saying that the inventor of a knife is responsible for murders. That’s really ridiculous,” added a protest participant.
\n\n
\n\n
Rodrigo Sapata, head of one of the blockchain projects, noted that the arrest could have consequences for developers in other fields. He urged updating legislation “for the open-source era”.
\n\n
On 8 August, OFAC added Tornado Cash’s site to the sanctions list, along with 39 Ethereum addresses and 6 USDC addresses linked to it.
\n\n
According to the agency, since its creation in 2019, criminals have laundered more than $7 billion in cryptocurrency using it. Elliptic puts the figure at about $1.54 billion.
\n\n
Kraken CEO Jesse Powell described the sanctions against the mixer unconstitutional, while TRM Labs analysts a compliance challenge.
\n\n
Members of the decentralised autonomous organization Tornado DAO urged the community to hire a team of lawyers to appeal the service’s blockage.
\n\n
Later, the crypto-industry-focused advocacy group Coin Center said it intended to challenge the U.S. restrictions.
\n\n
Follow ForkLog’s Bitcoin news on our Telegram — cryptocurrency news, prices and analysis.