Turkish authorities are reportedly detaining an Ethereum developer known as an intern at FEDE in Izmir.
The arrest, disclosed by the developer on August 10th, sparked debate in the crypto community.
Why was a Fede intern being detained?
Details regarding his detention remain sparse as of the time of reporting, but Fede’s intern said Turkish authorities accused him of allowing others to “misuse” the blockchain network.
He wrote:
“The Turkish Home Minister says I have helped people misuse Ethereum.”
However, no specific examples or evidence of how he helped this have been published, and the lack of details has encouraged skepticism among observers in several industry.
Nevertheless, the detained developer warned that such accusations risk criminalising legitimate blockchain development, adding:
“Privacy is not a crime. Chase the law violations, not the builders.”
Despite the incident, Fede’s interns emphasized that he will work with the Turkish government in their investigation. He said:
“I am completely open to working with Turkey and with national authorities. We have not helped anyone do anything, but we will protect ourselves too.”
In particular, Fede’s intern said the authorities “trying to take his phone away.” He added that he should go out within the next three hours.
“Very troublesome”
The case follows the recent conviction of tornado cash co-founder Roman Storm for running a non-licensed money transfer business that has been claimed up to five years in prison.
These well-known cases have led many in cryptospace to express concern about increasing legal pressure on blockchain developers.
Ryan Shawn Adams, founder of media platform Bankles, described Turkish detention as “very troublesome” and questioned whether Istanbul was a safe option for Ethereum’s Devcon 2026 conference.
Meanwhile, Rasit Tavus, CEO and founder of LegalBlock, suggested that Fede’s arrest could be linked to international organizations such as Interpol and Europol.
According to him:
“It’s easy to see that it’s unrelated to Torkier as law enforcement agents arrested the developer in border control. Perhaps something is happening with Interpol or Europol and Turkish law enforcement is waiting to decide what to do.”