Dutch Blockchain Week Panel Examines Developer Liability in Alexey Pertsev Tornado Cash Appeal
A panel at Dutch Blockchain Week 2026 examined the legal implications of the Tornado Cash case and the appeal of developer Alexey Pertsev, focusing on the question of whether software code can be deemed criminal. Pertsev's appeal lawyer, Judith de Boer, argued that the first-instance court's decision effectively criminalized software development itself, raising fundamental questions about developer liability for how third parties use open-source code.
Key quotes
The main question in this case is, of course, can a software developer be held criminally liable for the actions of others using their code?
This decision effectively turns software into a criminal — and that should concern every developer who writes code that could be used by anyone.
If writing open-source code becomes a crime, the entire foundation of modern software development is at risk.
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