Alexey Pertsev’s lawyer says ‘decentralised nature’ of Tornado Cash should reverse his conviction

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Ever since Dutch prosecutors indicted Alexey Pertsev connected charges helium facilitated wealth laundering astatine Tornado Cash, determination has been 1 burning question astatine the bosom of the case.

Who should beryllium held liable for the imaginable misuse of a decentralised protocol?

This is the query Judith de Boer, Pertsev’s lawyer, is pursuing.

She is arguing connected behalf of the 31-year-old dev that the Dutch tribunal erred successful May erstwhile it convicted him of unlawfully permitting atrocious actors to usage the crypto mixer.

Dev’s defence

During his proceedings successful the spring, Pertsev defended himself by testifying that Tornado Cash, an Ethereum-based level that utilized astute contracts to anonymise crypto transactions, fundamentally worked connected autopilot.

He didn’t carnivore work for deciding who utilized the level — machine programmes did. A Dutch justice rejected his statement and sentenced him to much than 5 years successful prison.

Privacy advocates decried the decision. Now it is de Boer’s occupation to transportation an appellate tribunal that the proceedings justice misapplied the law.

“European privateness laws support the close to fiscal privacy, and Tornado Cash was designed arsenic a decentralised protocol to uphold this principle,” de Boer told DL News.

“The defence presumption is that this is simply a misapplication of the instrumentality and volition situation it connected appeal.”

‘The US lawsuit highlights the morganatic usage of the protocol by individuals.’

As it happens, Pertsev, 31, who was released connected bail pending his entreaty past week, is getting a boost from a astonishing root — a US court.

In November, an appeals tribunal successful New Orleans ruled successful a civilian lawsuit connected to Tornado Cash that the authorities had wrongly utilized a nationalist information instrumentality to authorise sanctions of the level successful 2022.

The problem, the tribunal said, was that the instrumentality addressed radical and firm entities but not “immutable astute contracts.” It ordered the lawsuit to beryllium sent backmost to a little tribunal for review.

Then successful January, the government’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, oregon OFAC, signalled it would not situation the ruling. Tornado Cash supporters hailed the determination arsenic an “absolute win.”

Now the enactment volition crook to Pertsev’s appeal, which is nether way, and the transgression proceedings of his chap Tornado Cash dev, Roman Storm, successful a US tribunal successful April.

Legitimate use

While Pertsev’s lawsuit does not absorption connected the OFAC sanctions due to the fact that it is simply a substance of Dutch law, de Boer welcomed the US court’s ruling.

“The US lawsuit highlights the morganatic usage of the protocol by individuals and reinforces its decentralised nature,” said de Boer, a spouse astatine Hertoghs successful Amsterdam.

As for Pertsev, helium was released connected bail past week pending his entreaty aft initially being denied successful July. He wasted nary clip successful asking for supporters to lend funds to his case.

“Freedom is priceless, but my state costs a batch of money,” Pertsev said connected X.

Edward Robinson is the communicative exertion for DL News. Contact the writer astatine [email protected].