Alexey Pertsev, the developer of crypto privacy mixer Tornado Cash, will be released from jail next week and await trial at home, according to a report from Blockworks. 

  • The news reportedly comes from Eléonore Blanc, Pertsev’s wife, who claimed over Telegram that the developer would be coming home next week. 
  • Pertsev was arrested in Amsterdam in August 2022 shortly after the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Tornado Cash, creating unprecedented restrictions against the development and use of smart contract code. 
  • The developer was later denied bail and forced to remain imprisoned for months, despite no formal charges being laid at the time. However, Pertsev was found to have worked at a Russian firm called Digital Security, which had been flagged for providing support to the nation’s FSB. 
  • Pertsev’s arrest sparked outrage across the cryptocurrency space for what appeared to be the overly harsh treatment of someone who had merely developed software. 
  • Others including Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire were concerned about the precedent established by the Treasury Department in blocking the functioning of open-source software.
  •  “It raises extraordinary questions about privacy and security on the internet and the future of public internet digital currency,” he said in August. 
  • Despite the sanctions, Tornado Cash is still technically accessible and continues to generate volume. Earlier this month, over $600,000 in stablecoins from the 2021 Maker DAO hack were sent through the protocol. 
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