This app makes bitcoin private. The feds hate it.
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- Опубликовано: 8 май 2024
- The Department of Justice indicted the creators of Samourai Wallet, an application that helps people spend their bitcoins anonymously.
reason.com/video/2024/05/09/t...
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The Department of Justice indicted the creators of an application that helps people spend their bitcoins anonymously. They're accused of "conspiracy to commit money laundering." Why "conspiracy to commit" as opposed to just "money laundering"?
Because they didn't hold anyone else's money or do anything illegal with it. They provided a privacy tool that may have enabled other people to do illegal things with their bitcoin. But that's not a crime, just as selling someone a kitchen knife isn't a crime. The case against the creators of Samourai Wallet is an assault on our civil liberties and First Amendment rights.
What this tool does is offer what's known as a "coinjoin," a method for anonymizing bitcoin transactions by mixing them with other transactions, as the project's founder, Keonne Rodriguez, explained to Reason in 2022:
"I think the best analogy for it is like smelting gold," he said. "You take your Bitcoin, you add it into [the conjoin protocol] Whirlpool, and Whirlpool smelts it into new pieces that are not associated to the original piece."
Smelting bars of gold would make it harder for the government to track. But if someone eventually uses a piece of that gold for an illegal purchase, should the creator of the smelting furnace go to prison? This is what the government is arguing.
Cash is the payment technology used most by criminals, but it also happens to be essential for preserving the financial privacy of law-abiding citizens, as Human Rights Foundation chief strategy officer Alex Gladstein told Reason:
"The ATM model, it gives people the option to have freedom money," says Gladstein. "Yes, the government will know all the ins and outs of what flows are coming in and out, but they won't know what you do with it when you leave. And that allows us to preserve the privacy of cash, which I think is essential for a democratic society."
The government's decision to indict Rodriguez and his partner William Lonergan Hill is also an attack on free speech because all they did was write open-source code and make it widely available.
"It is an issue of a chilling effect on free speech," attorney Jerry Brito, who heads up the cryptocurrency nonprofit Coin Center, told Reason after the U.S. Treasury went after the creators of another piece of anonymizing software. "So, basically, anybody who is in any way associated with this tool…a neutral tool that can be used for good or for ill, these people are now being basically deplatformed."
Are we willing to trade away our constitutional rights for the promise of security? For many in power, there seems to be no limit to what they want us to trade away.
In the '90s, the FBI tried to ban online encryption because criminals and terrorists might use it to have secret conversations. Had they succeeded, there would be no internet privacy. E-commerce, which relies on securely sending credit card information, might never have existed.
Today, Elizabeth Warren mobilizes her "anti-crypto army" to take down bitcoin by exaggerating its utility to Hamas. The Biden administration tried to permanently record all transactions over $600, and Warren hopes to implement a Central Bank Digital Currency, which would allow the government near-total surveillance of our financial lives.
Remember when the Canadian government ordered banks to freeze money headed to the trucker protests? Central Bank Digital Currencies would make such efforts far easier.
"We come from first principles here in the global struggle for human rights," says Gladstein. "The most important thing is that it's confiscation resistant and censorship resistant and parallel, and can be done outside of the government's control."
The most important thing about bitcoin, and money like it, isn't its price. It's the check it places on the government's ability to devalue, censor, and surviel our money. Creators of open-source tools like Samourai Wallet should be celebrated, not threatened with a quarter-century in a federal prison.
Music Credits: “Intercept,” by BXBRDVJA via Artlist; “You Need It,’ by Moon via Artlist.
Photo Credits: Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA/Newscom; Omar Ashtawy/APAImages / Polaris/Newscom; Paul Weaver/Sipa USA/Newscom; Envato Elements; Pexels; Emin Dzhafarov/Kommersant Photo / Polaris/Newscom; Anonymous / Universal Images Group/Newscom.
A government centrally owned digital currency is something we should all deeply fear and bitterly resist.
The US Constitution gives Congress the right to control all money in America. Why “bitterly resist”? It’s been that way since the foundation of America.
Citizens needing a reason to hide their money “is something we should all deeply fear and bitterly resist.” Why do you need to hide money? Do you even file taxes?
The U.S. Constitution does not dictate that the government controls all money in America. Instead, it grants specific powers to Congress regarding monetary policy. According to Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, Congress has the power "to coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures." This establishes the authority of Congress to issue currency and manage its value.
The day-to-day operations and regulation of money are largely handled by the Federal Reserve, which functions as the central bank of the United States and operates independently of direct government control to ensure a stable financial system. Other federal agencies also oversee aspects of financial regulation under laws enacted by Congress.
@@jarvisnederlof35 you missed the whole taxing Clause, huh? Read all of Article 1
Attorney BTW. I can also quote plenty of US Supreme Court rulings about it as well. Mcculloch v Maryland (1819) is a good starting point.
I just hate people quoting “rights” when they literally do not specify or know what they are saying. This video specifically does that. If you look up the USC, they absolutely violated the laws.
"Americans have forgotten that Government is BY DEFINITION an inherently coercive, wasteful, & inefficient monopolist of ultimate decisionmaking & violence."
Really? I think (I know) confirmation bias plays a big part in many cases that the DOJ are involved with.
This case is a classic example of how the DOJ puts the proverbial cart before the horse.
3:04 chief Warren speaking about what she knows not.
No need to provide a time stamp. Every time Elizabeth Warren speaks, she is speaking about what she knows not.
When she said that Elon Musk needs to pay his fair share of taxes, Elon responded by saying he paid the most income tax of anyone, ever... and mock pleaded, please don't report me to the manager, Senator Karen.
This is why Satoshi never revealed himself. Also why those improving the liberty preserving aspects of crypo should publish anonymously
I'm surprised Mental Outlaw hasn't covered this.
A quarter century vs 2 life sentences plus 20 years? Same thing.
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He mostly interacts on Telegrams, using the user-name.
CraigReeder.....
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I remember when bitcoin was to be anonymous digital cash, facilitating online and in person transactions with very low transaction fees, with the knowledge that this would be currency that worked for the people instead of governments and international mega banks. Instead, bitcoin became a highly speculative investment scheme with everyone holding and nobody spending, so it was useless as a currency. Can we have just *one* cryptocurrency that works like digital gold?
Well stated. The practical effects of some of these idiotic and authoritarian measures are potentially devastating.
Correct me if I am wrong... but to prove conspiracy they will have to prove they colluded with someone. Otherwise it's just a tool/service used by people who commit money laundering, in which case just about every major bank would be guilty.
They have to prove intent and how does anyone prove that?! That said, we are talking about the DOJ and I’m afraid that they’re capable of ‘proving’ anything they want to, even if it means manipulating and playing with words/meanings/intentions … the truth.
And, when I say that ‘I’m afraid’, I truly am because Keonne is my son.
Godspeed trailblazers.
I think these pieces exist just to create the appearance of effective debate.
Oy there, you got a license to create that source code?
This is silk road all over again
No, silk road was explicitly connecting buyers and sellers of illegal goods [for what it's worth, I was a big fan and think it's bad for the world that it was shut down]. There's no illegal goods involved here, just bitcoin laundering, basically.
@@stuffbenlikesI think his argument is that it’s not gonna stop anything and that since the code/idea is already out there, all it’s gonna do is be a whack a mole situation.
Alternatively, the Bitcoin bros could just use monero or wownero if they want baked in privacy
Interesting topic. One of too many in current events. Too many things to keep an eye on.
Well done video, thank you very much!
Knowledge is power. We live in a police state that would make the East German Stazi police jealous.
Last I checked, there is no boarder keeping you in. Feel free to flee.
@@Sig_P229 "Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." Samuel Adams
@@freesk8Ok…that literally has nothing to do with East Germany. Again, there is no Berlin Wall keeping you. Feel free to leave if it’s so awful. East Germany did not have the luxury.
@@Sig_P229 The aspect of East Germany I was referring to was the Stazi police, and their Stazi files kept on each citizen. The Stazi police got neighbors to snitch on each other, and kept embarassing information about everyone so they could be manipulated if needed. When the Berlin Wall fell, regular East Germans went to get their Stazi files so they could destroy them. But today, the NSA keeps records of our phone and text message headers, our cell tower pings, our credit card transactions, our bank transactions, and our social media posts. Facial recognition software makes logs of our comings and goings as we walk past surveillance cameras. Our front door ring cameras are accessible by police. Siri listens to us all day long like our kitchens are literally bugged. Like I say, the Stazi police would be jealous. As for my response above, you suggested I leave. I prefer to stay and fight. And if you just accept the tyranny that we live under, may history forget your were our countryman.
I got a good playlist saying this should go viral.
Is there any way to contribute to the legal fees for Rodriguez ? Does he have a go fund me or anything of the like. Seems like a pretty important case to win and set a solid legal precedent?
Freedom is scary for those who want to run everyone’s life.
Hello there, my fellow slaves. Hope all is well.
Not yet, but they're trying! I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees.
Government doesn’t want competition.
❤❤
This stuff keeps getting better.
ffs
F around, find out, but when are we gonna start helping them find out?
Melting is not smelting.
Pedant.
Are we will to trade away our Constitutional right? Can you name the precise “right” you are referring to?
The enumerated right in the Constitution I found was Article 1, Section 8: Congress has the right “…To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures…”
If someone directly conspires to hide American finances from the American Government, then yes, It’s a crime. Pretty self explanatory. Off shore accounts have existed for years. Trying to create “off shore accounts” in America is just a bad idea. It’s obviously still in America’s jurisdiction.
Do you really believe you should have the right to hide money from the government? The Constitution you refer to has thought differently since 1776. If you don’t like it, I hear Venezuela is nice.
GO AWAY CIA