Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev released from prison
The cryptocurrency community and privacy advocates around the world are closely watching Alexey Pertsev's legal battle and the Tornado Cash lawsuit.
Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev was released from prison on February 7 and will continue to be under house arrest while preparing his legal appeal.
On February 6, a Dutch court suspended the pre-trial detention order against Pertsev, which began in August 2022 and was extended by a previous court ruling in November 2024.
As part of the pre-trial release, Pertsev must be electronically monitored. "It's not real freedom, but it's still better than prison," the developer wrote in a social media post on February 6.
Pertsev's case has raised alarm bells in the privacy advocacy community, which condemns this legal action as setting a dangerous precedent for privacy-protecting technologies and immutable code developers.
Pertsev was convicted of money laundering; Tornado Cash struggles with U.S. sanctions.
The 's-Hertogenbosch Court of Appeal convicted Pertsev of money laundering in May 2024 and sentenced the software developer to five years and four months in prison.
Dutch court officials found Pertsev guilty despite Tornado Cash developers not controlling the funds passing through the protocol or the protocol itself.