Tornado Cash Developer’s Custody Extended for Three More Months

Dutch authorities recently extended the detention of Alexey Pertsev, the developer of Tornado Cash, an open-source crypto-mixing protocol.

Pertsev was arrested in August 2022, following a move by the U.S. Treasury to sanction Tornado Cash, claiming that it facilitated money laundering for malicious cyber actors, including a group the FBI has linked to North Korea.

The developer will continue to be detained until his next hearing on April 21, according to a ruling by a Dutch court.

The court has also scheduled a pre-trial review for May 24. Pertsev is being accused of laundering $7 billion worth of funds, including $455 million stolen by the North Korea-linked Lazarus group, the FBI alleges.

Tornado Cash is an open-source protocol that advocates privacy in mixing and pooling users’ funds within multiple wallets, obfuscating in/out-flows of funds, and offering anonymization services for cryptocurrencies.

Pertsev has not been formally charged with a crime, and he is being held for 110-day intervals under a provision in Dutch law that allows people to be detained for such periods without being formally charged.

The developer has had three appeals rejected since his arrest, with the last one being denied in November 2022.

Several prominent blockchain developers have stood up for Pertsev online, with a number of them sharing links to the FreeAlex.nl page and a change.org petition, which so far has over 5,000 signatures in support of the Tornado Cash developer.