Tornado Cash Saga Fuels Protest After Developer's Arrest

Open source development, free speech and privacy are all under fire with the arrest of an alleged Tornado Cash developer. Plus: interviews from the #FreeAlex protest.

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ABOUT

“The message you got from U.S. authorities is, if your privacy-enhancing tool as a side issue also enables money laundering, then we’d rather not have it.”

Jack Schickler, regulatory reporter at CoinDesk, joins “Opinionated” hosts Ben Schiller, Danny Nelson and Anna Baydakova to discuss the developing story of cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash. Earlier this month, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned the Tornado Cash protocol for its use by North Korean hackers to launder stolen funds. Two days later, an alleged Tornado Cash developer, Alexey Pertsev, was arrested in the Netherlands.

The local decentralized finance (DeFi) community gathered to draw attention to Pertsev’s case and ensure a fair trial. Schickler captured interviews from some of the attendees of the protest, many expressing concerns about the implications of Pertsev’s arrest to the right of privacy and the future of open source development. Listen to hear the voices of Buzko Krasnov, Eléonore Blanc, Naomi Schettini, James Murdza, Rinke and two individuals who wished to remain anonymous.

Schickler also wrote a follow-up after a closed-door hearing in Pertsev’s case.

See Also:

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This show is produced and edited by Eleanor Pahl with additional production support and announcements by Michele Musso. Our theme song is by Elision.

HOSTS

Dan Ilett

Dan Ilett writes on tech, money and energy. He advises business on digital strategy and technology messaging for large deals. He is founder of Erbut - an advisory company - and Greenbang - a smart technology research company.

Anna Baydakova

Anna writes about blockchain projects and regulation with a special focus on Eastern Europe and Russia. She is especially excited about stories on privacy, cybercrime, sanctions policies and censorship resistance of decentralized technologies.
She graduated from the Saint Petersburg State University and the Higher School of Economics in Russia and got her Master's degree at Columbia Journalism School in New York City.
She joined CoinDesk after years of writing for various Russian media, including the leading political outlet Novaya Gazeta.
Anna owns BTC and an NFT of sentimental value.

Danny Nelson

Danny was CoinDesk's managing editor for Data & Tokens. He formerly ran investigations for the Tufts Daily. At CoinDesk, his beats include (but are not limited to): federal policy, regulation, securities law, exchanges, the Solana ecosystem, smart money doing dumb things, dumb money doing smart things and tungsten cubes. He owns BTC, ETH and SOL tokens, as well as the LinksDAO NFT.

Benjamin Schiller

Benjamin Schiller is CoinDesk's managing editor for features and opinion. Previously, he was editor-in-chief at BREAKER Magazine and a staff writer at Fast Company. He holds some ETH, BTC and LINK.

Danny Bradbury

Danny Bradbury has been a professional writer since 1989, and has worked freelance since 1994. He covers technology for publications such as the Guardian.

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