The Turkish authorities have held an Ethereum developer known as Fede trainee in Izmir.
The arrest, disclosed by the developer on August 10, aroused a debate in the cryptographic community, where many consider it a disturbing precedent.
Why was FEDE’s trainee detained?
While the details on his detention remain sparse at the time of the press, the Fede trainee said that the Turkish authorities had accused him of allowing others to “poorly used” the blockchain network.
He wrote:
“The Minister of Internal Affairs of Turkey says I helped people abuse Ethereum.”
However, no concrete example or proof of the way he helped this was made public, and the lack of details fueled skepticism among some industry observers.
Nevertheless, the detainee developer warned that such accusations are likely to criminalize the legitimate development of the blockchain, adding:
“Privacy is not a crime. Go after breaking, not manufacturers. “
Despite the incident, the Fede trainee stressed that he would cooperate with the Turkish government in his investigations. He said:
“I am fully open to cooperate with the authorities of Turkey or from any country, we have helped anyone to do anything, but we will also defend ourselves.”
In particular, FEDE’s intern said that the authorities had tried to take his “phone (because they) considered it a security risk.” He added that he should be absent in the next three hours.
‘Very disturbing’
This incident follows the recent conviction of the co-founder of Tornado Cash Roman Storm for having exploited a company of transmission of money without license, an accusation which brought up to five years in prison.
These high -level cases have led many in the cryptographic space to express their concerns concerning the increase in legal pressures on blockchain developers.
Ryan Sean Adams, founder of the media platform without Bankless, described Turkish detention as “very disturbing” and wondered if Istanbul remains a safe choice for the Devcon 2026 conference in Ethereum.
Meanwhile, Rasit Tavus, CEO and founder of Legalblock, suggested that Fede’s arrest could be linked to international organizations like Interpol or Europol.
According to him:
“I can easily say that this is not linked to Turkiye because the agent responsible for the application of laws would have stopped the developer to the border control. Most likely, something happens with Interpol or Europol, and the Turkish police are waiting for additional information to decide what to do. ”
Mentioned in this article
(Tagstotranslate) Ethereum
Source link
