Zero evidence this is connected to U.S. sanctions. Dutch law protects even cash transactions less than American law.
When the investigation started, in June, the U.S. had already released evidence Tornado Cash was used to launder money. If a Dutch person kept working on it, it might be trivial to show they broke Dutch criminal statute.
> org that arrested him specifically mentions the US sanctions in their press release
I'm not arguing it's irrelevant. Just that this doesn't look like a sanctions arrest. Tornado Cash was sanctioned on 8 August. There hasn't been enough time for someone to violate the sanctions and produce enough evidence to get arrested. More likely: the same alleged crimes that got Tornado sanctioned prompted this arrest.
The first time a developer of open source, non-custodial and autonomous smart contract code has been arrested comes days after the US sanctions the same smart contract.
It says in the article that the person has benefited financially from this. It's not about making open source, I don't know why people are raising that red herring. Implementing a mixer is (probably) not illegal in The Netherlands, putting one in production and setting it up in such a way that you benefit from it absolutely is.
I don't believe it's a coincidence that the sanctions and the arrest happened close together, there's likely some coordination there. But it's really unlikely the sanctions somehow are relevant in this case.
> first time a developer of open source, non-custodial and autonomous smart contract code has been arrested comes days after the US sanctions the same smart contract. Probably just a coincidence
Zero chance this is solely on account of U.S. sanctions. It takes time to build an arrest case under domestic law, as well as for sanctions to percolate across legal systems.
There was likely coördination. Maybe the Dutch waited, to bolster their arrest case. Maybe the evidence that Tornado was used to launder money processed under similar time frames at OFAC and the FIOD.
I often wonder if people are aware that the US is basically a one world government. You cannot run. If you believe you are innocent, and you run to any other "somewhat free" country, they will send you right back to get railroaded through the "justice" system. If you do something outside the real jurisdiction of the US, they will find a way to put you in their jurisdiction.
The US has significant control over European countries. They're nearly vassal states to a degree.
This is the second comment of this type I am seeing on HN following this story. I find this line of defense odd. There is no direct evidence, but anyone even somewhat familiar with OFAC sanctions knows how far they can reach.
Zero evidence this is connected to U.S. sanctions. Dutch law protects even cash transactions less than American law.
When the investigation started, in June, the U.S. had already released evidence Tornado Cash was used to launder money. If a Dutch person kept working on it, it might be trivial to show they broke Dutch criminal statute.