Alexey Pertsev was arrested last week in the Netherlands. The hitherto discreet developer is accused of having created Tornado Cash and thus facilitated money laundering on the platform. A decision that has created a tidal wave of indignation in the crypto community, which is currently campaigning to free him.
The crypto community outraged by the arrest of the creator of the Tornado Cash code
Alexey Pertsev’s wife, Ksenia Malik, as well as a part of the crypto community, are indignant about the reasons for the imprisonment of the creator of Tornado Cash. The latter has indeed worked on the code underlying the cryptocurrency mixer, offering it in open source. They therefore argue that the subsequent uses that have been made – including by criminals – are not the responsibility of Pertsev.
A sentiment shared by the 1inch Network, which yesterday called on the community to mobilize for the release of the developer:
“Is it really a crime to be an open source blockchain developer these days!?”
A petition has been launched, as well as a demonstration. It will take place on August 20 in Amsterdam. The hashtag #freealex has also been proposed on social networks.
Questions that go far beyond cryptocurrencies
The Tornado Cash case of course raises questions about the value of anonymity… But also about the work of developers. Can we accuse a developer of facilitating money laundering when all he did was offer open source code?
This could in any case create a dangerous precedent. Open source developers could be arrested because their code was used by criminals. We have already seen several examples of this interpretation. As we reported last week, the source code of Tornado Cash was removed from GitHub, and some developers had their accounts deleted.
So the Tornado Cash case will set important milestones for the entire ecosystem. Ksenia Malik also confirmed to our colleagues at CoinTelegraph that she wants these issues to be relayed as widely as possible:
“We want to promote this cause so that as many people as possible are informed about this arrest and the reasons why it is incorrect. This is a serious issue, as all open source developers and others may be affected by this accusation.”
It is noted, however, that counter-arguments exist, and that they will also be considered. Since Tornado Cash generates profits, it may be understandable that its operators indirectly benefit from the money laundering that takes place on the platform. Where do we draw the line then? This is the question that part of the crypto community will tackle in the coming months.
