Tornado Cash Developer’s Arrest Sparks Protest in Amsterdam

More than 50 people gathered in Amsterdam’s historic Dam Square this weekend in protest of Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev’s arrest

article-image

Source: Tornado Cash

share

key takeaways

  • Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev was arrested earlier this month over alleged facilitation of money laundering
  • Privacy advocates worry Pertsev’s arrest could have damaging consequences for open-source coders

Supporters of Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev gathered in Amsterdam to protest over the weekend, almost two weeks after he was arrested in the Dutch capital.

Dutch financial crimes agency FIOD suspects the 29-year-old programmer of facilitating money laundering through the crypto-mixing service. But the agency hasn’t specified under which laws Pertsev was arrested. He is yet to be charged with a specific crime, per the latest available information.

Pertsev’s arrest has sparked widespread backlash among open source developers, and an online petition decrying his detention has garnered almost 2,000 signatures.

DeFi (decentralized finance) aggregator 1inch Network had called on individuals to join a protest rally in Amsterdam’s historic Dam Square, arguing developers, including Tornado Cash programmers, hold no control over how their code is used.

On Saturday, over 50 protesters held placards with slogans including: “Free Alex Pertsev,” “Writing open source code is not a crime,” and, “Will you arrest a gun maker for facilitating public shooting?”

Loading Tweet..

The Change.org petition, created by Helsinki-based product manager Daria Mironova, states the “accusations against Alex threaten to kill the entire open-source software segment.”

US authorities believe Tornado Cash is a primary tool for North Korean hacker crew Lazarus Group in laundering stolen cryptocurrency. 

Earlier this month, the US Treasury sanctioned the mixer’s blockchain addresses, among others, rendering it illegal for US persons to interact with the tool.

The mixer’s front-end web app is now offline, although the actual protocol — which is powered by smart contracts — persists on the Ethereum blockchain.

Pertsev’s wife Ksenia Malik told Cointelegraph last week that she hasn’t got the chance to contact him after authorities took him in.

Malik said she didn’t expect someone could be arrested for writing open source code and expressed gratitude for support shown.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

Maple Finance has successfully navigated significant market challenges through its strategic pivot to secured lending (Maple v2) and the launch of its Syrup product. Syrup has become a primary growth driver, delivering sustainable, outperforming stablecoin yields and rapidly increasing TVL. The upcoming custody-first Bitcoin staking product (istBTC) presents another significant avenue for expansion. Crucially, Maple has achieved operational profitability, a key inflection point that, combined with a fully vested token and active buyback mechanism, strengthens its investment case. While valuation metrics suggest potential undervaluation relative to peers and growth, the primary forward-looking risk identified is the long-term sustainability of its current high-take-rate collateral staking revenue model.

article-image

LBTC and sBTC integrations unlock new DeFi yields for BTC holders

article-image

The Breakdown becomes your central hub for insightful, daily crypto macro analysis

article-image

What was a cool $500,000 would now be worth more than $7 million

article-image

Mersinger’s final day at the CFTC will be May 30

article-image

Squads CEO Stepan Simkin explained why the firm launched Altitude and how he’s thinking about stablecoins

article-image

Sponsored

Instead of endless wallet popups, users could connect once, set clear rules, and delegate permission to an app or to an AI agent.