Pertsev’s 2023: Pertsev is expected to be in prison until at least February 2023. Beyond the lengthy court battles and jail time, the developer may emerge as a poster child for Web3’s ethos of decentralization, open-source development, data privacy and ownership. The resulting legal framework could bring two key areas of clarity. First, the courts could determine when it is against the law to create open-source applications that improve the privacy of transactions. Second, they could establish whether open-source developers risk being jailed when malicious actors use their code for illegal activities, like money laundering. The Pertsev and Tornado Cash saga has presented regulators with something they have not encountered before. It is still unclear why the government punished an open-source code contributor for the protocol’s alleged misuse while the investors, founders and other stakeholders have not received the same treatment. The situation could be one of the most followed developments in 2023 due to the potential ramifications of the case on the future of open-source development.