Who is Alex Pertsev?

Alexey is a programmer and a professional in the field of information security living in the Netherlands. An active participant in the crypto community. Information security’s primary focus is the balanced protection of the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data and for him it’s not just words. And as one of the areas of his activity, he was engaged in audits of smart contracts and security issues of the blockchain network.

What is Tornado cash?

Tornado Cash is an open-source decentralized protocol, and it anonymization service for cryptocurrencies on the Ethereum blockchain. The service makes it possible to conceal the origin or destination of crypto transactions for privacy considerations. Tornado Cash receives various transactions and mixes them together before transmitting them to their individual recipients. Tornado’s purpose is to bring privacy to the blockchain.

Why privacy payments are essential?

All information about transactions in the blockchain network is available to any user. Imagine if everyone could look into any bank account in the world and see all bank transfers. How much does your neighbor earn? Or a work colleague. People prefer not to disclose personal data and especially how much money they keep in bank accounts. The business is not ready to share information on what amounts of transactions are concluded. Also, for personal or socio-political reasons, it may be essential to remain anonymous if you want to send a donation. For example, the co-founder of Ethereum Vitaly Buterin used Tornado Cash for donations for the needs of Ukraine. But in the blockchain network, all this is impossible, every payment can be tracked. Therefore, Tornado Cash was developed for ensures the privacy of transactions.

Useful Devcon Kurt Opsahl’s speech: watch

What charges were brought against Alex?

No charges were brought against him. He’s imprisoned on suspicion, not on charges. He can be held under arrest for up to 110 days in total without charge.

The official FIOD statement can be found here

What is exactly Alex accused of?

FIOD claims that Alex is suspected of "involvement in concealing criminal financial flows and facilitating money laundering through the mixing of cryptocurrencies through the decentralized Ethereum mixing service Tornado Cash.”

What is open-source software?

Open-source software is computer software that is open to use by anyone and for any purpose. As opposed to "proprietary" or "closed-source", creators of open-source software deliberately make it available to others who would like to view that code, copy it, learn from it, alter it or distribute it.