Alex Pertsev, co-founder of the crypto mixing service Tornado Cash, announced that a Dutch court has suspended his pretrial detention, allowing him to move to electronic monitoring while he prepares an appeal.
On a Feb. 6 X post, Pertsev shared:
“Dear Friends, on Friday 7 February at 10 am I will be free! It is not real freedom, but it is better than prison… Thank you to everyone who supported me and who made this possible!”
The news sparked a price increase in Tornado Cash’s token TORN, which soared nearly 40% before retreating to $12.88 as of press time.
Dutch authorities arrested Pertsev in August 2022 after the US sanctioned Tornado Mixer and its developers. Pertsev was charged with facilitating money laundering and negligence for failing to take sufficient steps to prevent illicit financial activity on the platform.
In May 2024, a Dutch court sentenced Pertsev to five years in prison, ruling that his role in Tornado Cash contributed to the laundering of criminal funds. The court argued that while Tornado Cash was a neutral tool, developers were responsible for ensuring it was not misused.
Following the court ruling, Pertsev has maintained that privacy tools should not be equated with money laundering and that open-source developers should not be held accountable for how their software is used.
Court wins
On Nov. 26, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to remove Tornado Cash-linked addresses from its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) list.
The ruling was seen as a significant win for Pertsev and Roman Storm, another Tornado Cash developer arrested on August 2023 and awaiting trial.
The Fifth Circuit Court highlighted that sanctioning the protocol does not block bad actors from using it, as smart contracts are autonomous and cannot be owned, controlled, or altered. Additionally, the ruling held a court suggestion to update the current legislation to regulate crypto-mixers’ use.
Until the changes are made, the court assessed that the current legal framework should not restrict applications such as Tornado Cash from operating autonomously.
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