On Saturday, August 20, a rally was held on Dam Square in Amsterdam in support of Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev.
On August 12, Dutch authorities arrested an unnamed man on suspicion of being involved in money laundering and hiding criminal financial flows through a cryptocurrency mixer. Later it became known that we are talking about Pertsev.
According to the publication, after a closed hearing, the developer was left in custody for two weeks. The arrest of Pertsev caused a resonance in the community. Announcing the rally, the initiative group said that the actions of the authorities set a dangerous precedent.
According to media reports, more than 50 people took part in the rallies. They demanded the release of the developer and stated that "open source code is not a crime." One of the protesters in a comment to the publication noted that the incident with Pertsev "forms a deterrent effect that goes against innovation and the community."
“Alex is just a developer. They should go after the real criminals,” said Web3 developer Naomi Schettini.
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According to her, he is not responsible for attackers using the code for illegal activities.“It's like saying that the inventor of the knife is guilty of murder. It’s really funny, ”added the rally participant.
The head of one of the blockchain projects, Rodrigo Zapata, noted that the arrest could have consequences for developers in other areas. He called for legislation to be updated "for the age of open source".
On August 8, OFAC added to the sanctions list the Tornado Cash cryptocurrency mixer website, as well as 39 Ethereum and 6 USDC addresses associated with it.
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According to the agency, since the creation of Tornado Cash in 2019, with its help, attackers have laundered more than $7 billion worth of cryptocurrency. According to Elliptic, it is correct to talk about $1.54 billion.
Recall that the CEO of the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange, Jess Powell, called the sanctions against the mixer unconstitutional, and TRM Labs analysts called it a challenge for compliance.
Members of the decentralized autonomous organization Tornado DAO called on the community to hire a team of lawyers to challenge the blocking of the service in court.
Later, the Coin Center, a human rights organization focused on the crypto industry, announced its intention to challenge the restrictions imposed by the United States.