A Dutch court has sentenced Alexey Pertsev, a developer involved with Tornado Cash, to 64 months in prison.He was convicted of laundering $1.2 billion in crypto through the Tornado Cash mixer between July 9, 2019, and August 10, 2022.Pertsev’s legal team has a 14-day window to appeal the court’s decision.This verdict follows Pertsev’s arrest by Dutch authorities nearly two years ago, in August 2022. At that time, the US government had sanctioned the crypto mixing tool for aiding entities like North Korea-backed Lazarus Group in laundering their illegal proceeds.The ruling in Pertsev’s case could have significant implications for the crypto sector, particularly as other Tornado Cash developers face trials in the United States. In August 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ) brought charges against Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm, alleging money laundering and violations of US sanctions laws.Pertsev’s conviction has riled up members of the crypto community, who are criticizing the judgment.Pablito, the head of security research at Blockfence, said the ruling was a “sad day for privacy, crypto and open-source.” He added that “the war is not over. Privacy is a human right.”Meanwhile, Alexandre Stachtchenko, a web3 expert, said:“This has gone too far. It is time to end this KYC and surveillance mess before it eats democracy itself. I will soon publish a text calling for action and support.”Similarly, Michelle Weekley, the director of product development at Byte Federal, opined that the ruling showed crypto users either “participate in AML/KYC regulation or go to jail.” She added:“This is the real fight and we either take down the global banking regulation cartel or we just apply all their laws to the new ecosystem and continue to live under their tyrannical dictatorship.”Oluwapelumi values Bitcoin’s potential. He imparts insights on a range of topics like DeFi, hacks, mining and culture, underlining transformative power.Also known as “Akiba,” Liam is a reporter, editor and podcast producer at CryptoSlate. He believes that decentralized technology has the potential to make widespread positive change. Daily digest of top crypto stories and market insights. Never miss out.Crypto mixer Tornado Cash remains in use by the crypto community despite the legal issues facing its founders.Community membes have speculated that the arrested individual was the pseudonymous founder of the platform, Derivatives MonkeInformation on the regulator website show that the exchange has lodged an appeal against this fine.Crypto.com secures registration approval in the Netherlands, marking a significant shift in the crypto landscape following Binance’s withdrawal.CryptoSlate’s latest market report dives deep into the effects corporate Bitcoin purchases have on the market.Disclaimer: Our writers’ opinions are solely their own and do not reflect the opinion of CryptoSlate. None of the information you read on CryptoSlate should be taken as investment advice, nor does CryptoSlate endorse any project that may be mentioned or linked to in this article. Buying and trading cryptocurrencies should be considered a high-risk activity. Please do your own due diligence before taking any action related to content within this article. Finally, CryptoSlate takes no responsibility should you lose money trading cryptocurrencies.
