Ethereum developer detained for hours in Turkey over alleged misuse of Ethereum

Ethereum developer, Federico Carrone, known pseudonymously as Fede’s Intern, has finally left Turkey after being detained for hours. In a post on X, the developer said that authorities detained him in Izmir upon allegations that he was helping people to misuse the network.

The developer who works on Zero Knowledge (ZK) technology and is involved in several other Ethereum infrastructure projects said on X that he was stopped at the airport over a pending criminal charge in the country.

His initial post read:

“I’m in Turkey, Izmir. They are telling my lawyer that I helped people to misuse @ethereum and I might have a charge. You can imagine what it means. It’s obviously wrong, we are just infra builders.”

He claimed he travelled to the country to meet with business partners on a DeFi project and network with people in the Turkish wine industry. However, the authorities stopped him from gaining entry into the country, informing him that he needed to appear before a judge due to a case against him.

After being detained for hours over an issue that appears to be connected to a privacy protocol, he was finally released and allowed to leave the country. He noted that this took the concerted efforts of several stakeholders and friends, including members of the Ethereum community.

Nevertheless, Fede’s Intern promised to contest the case, noting that the team’s Turkish attorneys were already working on a defense against the legal action. He added that he could not give full information until the matter is resolved.

Blockchain privacy tools are likely at the center of legal action

Although the developer did not give much information on the pending case, he disclosed that his team has faced several other incidents in recent years. He noted that when Tornado Cash co-founder Alexey Roman was detained, authorities called him to ask about Tutela.

Tutela is an academic paper and code that analyzed user privacy on Ethereum and Tornado Cash, and it has Carrone as one of the contributors. The paper showed that it is possible to deanonymize users, even though Carrone stated that his team did not do further work on this subject.

While it is unclear whether it is now the reason for his recent detention, the developer criticized the recent trend of governments targeting software companies working on privacy tools, noting that such actions do not make anyone a criminal.

He said:

“Writing code to make transactions private doesn’t make you a criminal. Criminals are those who break the law. Would anyone jail Linus Torvalds because someone built a missile that uses the Linux kernel?”

Interestingly, the developer does not appear to be bitter about the experience. Instead, he noted his love for the Turkish culture and added that he plans to deepen his formal engagement and relationships with government authorities and like-minded individuals.

Crypto community raises concerns about lawsuits targeting software developers

Meanwhile, the incident highlights the challenges facing blockchain developers, especially those working on privacy technology tools. Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm was recently convicted for operating an unlicensed money transmitter business.

While he was able to escape conviction for two other charges that carried more severe penalties, the criminal conviction against him means he could face up to five years in prison. Many people now believe this is a continuation of that trend.

Bankless founder Sean Adams described the Carrone incident as deeply troubling, especially because Istanbul is a proposed location for DevCon 2026.

Crypto Advocacy group Coin Center also highlighted concerns about authorities targeting developers. In a recent report on policy developments for the crypto industry,  the group noted that the Tornado Cash and the Samourai wallet cases were worrying signs, adding that privacy protocols and self-custody tools still face legal uncertainty and persecution.

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