tl;dr
Alexey Pertsev, a developer of Ethereum mixer Tornado Cash, has been sentenced to 64 months in prison by a Dutch court for money laundering. The court stated that Tornado Cash is "intended for criminals" and that Pertsev facilitated criminal users, convicting him of laundering $1.2 billion in illici...
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Developer of Ethereum mixer Tornado Cash, Alexey Pertsev, has been convicted of money laundering and sentenced to 64 months in prison by a Dutch court. The court labeled Tornado Cash as "intended for criminals" and found Pertsev guilty of laundering $1.2 billion in illicit assets. His lawyers have 14 days to appeal the decision. Tornado Cash, a well-known crypto coin mixer, has sparked dismay in the industry, with some expressing support for Pertsev and concern for the impact on privacy projects.
A Dutch judge at s-Hertogenbosch court stated that Tornado Cash is “intended for criminals” and that “the criminal user is fully facilitated.” Pertsev's lawyers have 14 days to appeal the court's decision. Crypto coin mixers obscure where money is being sent and have been used by hackers to launder illicit funds, but they're not exclusively used by criminals. Tornado Cash is one of the most well-known mixers, although it is not the only one. Pertsev was put in a Dutch jail after Tornado Cash was blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2022. The co-founder of Tornado Cash, Roman Storm, is also facing similar money laundering charges.
While Pertsev awaited trial, whistleblower Edward Snowden vocalized his support for the Tornado Cash creators. The industry has expressed dismay at the decision, with figures like Eleonore Blanc and HodlMagoo showing support for Pertsev and raising concerns about the impact on privacy projects.
Encoin, a privacy project built on Cardano, voiced worries about the sentencing, emphasizing that "privacy is a human right" and "Open Source is not a crime."
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