Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev to be detained another three months in Amsterdam
Quick Take
- Alexey Pertsev must remain in jail until at least February, a Dutch court ruled.
- Pertsev has been in Dutch jail since August for his role in forming Tornado Cash, a crypto mixer that hackers have used to launder stolen funds.
Alexey Pertsev, the creator of the crypto mixer Tornado Cash, will be detained in a Dutch jail for another three months, Pertsev's wife Ksenia Malik confirmed.
Dutch authorities arrested Pertsev in August after the U.S. sanctioned Tornado Cash’s alleged role in laundering money and use by North Korean hackers. Pertsev's September appeal was rejected and he was forced to remain in jail until Nov. 22. Now, he must remain incarcerated until at least February.
If Pertsev, a Russian national, were to be released, he may be sent to fight in the war against Ukraine, The Block reported Malik as saying. She had also previously confirmed that Tornado Cash’s developer is indeed Pertsev.
Tornado Cash pools the funds of multiple users before redistributing, or mixing, them. The mixed crypto is often harder to trace, and so hackers looked to Tornado Cash to launder their stolen money.
Last year, for instance, the crowdfunding platform DAO Maker was hacked, and someone laundered more than $500,000 worth of the stolen funds through Tornado Cash.
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