The person who started Tornado Cash, named Alexey Pertsev, has posted a message on Twitter for the first time since he was put in jail by the police in Amsterdam.
A person named Alexey Pertsev, who created something called Tornado Cash to mix cryptocurrencies, has posted a message on Twitter for the first time since he was put in jail by the security forces in Amsterdam last year. His arrest caused a lot of upset in the crypto world, and the message he posted on Twitter could mean that he has been released from jail.
Sorry I was afk for a while, what did I miss? 👀
— Alexey Pertsev (@alex_pertsev) April 28, 2023
It is not clear whether Alexey has been released from jail yet, but there were indications that he was supposed to be released earlier this month. This was after several unsuccessful attempts to get him released.
Last year, a government agency called the United States Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets and Control (OFAC) prohibited the use of a tool called Tornado Cash. This was because the tool was associated with criminal groups, including a group from North Korea called the Lazarus Group. The OFAC said that the creator of the tool, Alexey, was suspected of helping people hide their illegal activities and launder up to $7 billion worth of digital money.
Tornado Cash is a tool that helps people hide their identities when they send and receive digital money. It does this by mixing the money with other people’s money and sending it out in a way that makes it hard to figure out who was involved in the transaction. The US government banned Tornado Cash and arrested the person who made it, Alexey. This upset many people in the digital money world, and they spoke out against the government’s actions. They showed their support for Alexey and Tornado Cash.
People who supported Alexey said that it was not fair to punish a tool or program he created because of how people use it. They argued that going after the person who made the tool could stifle innovation. Because of this and other reasons, the US government and OFAC were taken to court.
Getting a New Lease of Life
Alexey’s arrest for creating Tornado Cash has made him well-known in the digital money world, and people have given him different names. Some people see him as a hero who sacrificed for the sake of new and innovative financial technologies that use blockchain.
Alexey, who is a developer in the digital money world, shared a tweet asking what he missed while he was in jail. There is a lot for him to learn, including what has been happening with Ethereum since the Merge and the Shapella Upgrade. He also needs to catch up on the increased pressure from regulators, especially in the US.
