Turkish arrest of Ethereum developer raises alarms in crypto community

Turkish authorities have reportedly detained an Ethereum developer known as Fede’s Intern in Izmir.

The arrest, disclosed by the developer on Aug. 10, has stirred debate in the crypto community, where many see it as a troubling precedent.

Why was Fede’s Intern detained?

While details about his detention remain sparse as of press time, Fede’s Intern stated that the Turkish authorities had accused him of enabling others to “misuse” the blockchain network.

He wrote:

“The minister of internal affairs of Turkey is saying I helped people misuse Ethereum.”

However, no concrete examples or evidence of how he aided this have been made public, and the lack of detail has fueled skepticism among some industry observers.

Nevertheless, the detained developer warned that such accusations risk criminalizing legitimate blockchain development, adding:

“Privacy is not a crime. Go after lawbreakers, not builders.”

Despite the incident, Fede’s Intern stressed that he would cooperate with the Turkish government in their investigations. He said:

“I’m fully open to cooperate with any authorities from Turkey or any country, we didn’t help anybody do anything, but we will also defend ourselves.”

Notably, Fede’s Intern stated that the authorities had tried to take his “phone [because] they considered it a security risk.” He added that he should be out within the next three hours.

 ‘Very troubling’

This incident follows the recent conviction of Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm for operating an unlicensed money transmission business, a charge that carries up to five years in prison.

These high-profile cases have led many in the crypto space to voice their concerns about increasing legal pressures on blockchain developers.

Ryan Sean Adams, founder of the media platform Bankless, described the Turkish detention as “very troubling” and questioned whether Istanbul remains a safe choice for Ethereum’s Devcon 2026 conference.

Meanwhile, Rasit Tavus, the CEO and founder of LegalBlock, suggested that Fede’s arrest may be linked to international organizations like Interpol or Europol.

According to him:

“I can tell easily that it’s unrelated to Turkiye because the law enforcement agent would have arrested the developer at the border control. Most likely, something is up with Interpol or Europol, and Turkish law enforcement is waiting for additional information to decide what to do.”

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