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Bitcoiner Charged for Protecting Privacy?! | Simply SatoSHE · Simply Bitcoin

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  Imagine waking up one day and realizing that your fundamental
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  human rights have suddenly changed, that maybe writing code
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  is no longer considered speech, that privacy is no longer the
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  bedrock of freedom, and that writing software can be treated
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  like a crime. Who decides where that line is
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  drawn, and how far it'll go if we don't stop it?
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  Today I'm breaking down whether the developers behind the
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  Bitcoin privacy wallet Samurai are actually criminals, or a
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  warning of what may be coming from for Bitcoiners and seekers
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  of self sovereignty across the globe.
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  Sadly, some people don't have to imagine this scenario.
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  Today, the developers of Samurai Wallet are surrendering
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  themselves to the US justice system for the crime of writing
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  code. Check out this clip of Keon
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  Rodriguez explaining exactly what Samurai Wallet was.
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  Samurai wallet was a non custodial software wallet.
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  Bitcoin wallet that I and Bill developed in 2015.
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  The point that we were trying, what we were trying to solve
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  with Samurai Wallet was addressing the fundamental
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  privacy concerns that exist on the transparent blockchain that
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  Bitcoin uses. And using mathematics and and
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  and clever tricks, you could say we were able to obtain a pretty
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  basic transactional privacy model for Bitcoin.
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  And Whirlpool was one of those tools, software tools that we
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  created to help improve privacy when transacting on a
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  transparent open Ledger such as Bitcoin.
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  In other words, Samurai Wallet was basically a tool to protect
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  transactions from surveillance on bitcoins public blockchain.
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  Users retained full control of their private keys, with no data
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  shared to central servers by default.
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  The wallet was praised by privacy advocates for promoting
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  financial privacy and censorship resistance, aligning with
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  Bitcoins original cypherpunk roots.
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  But in April 2024, US authorities arrested founders
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  Keon Rodriguez and William, charging them with conspiracy to
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  commit money laundering and operating an unlicensed money
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  transmitter. Prosecutors allege that the
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  privacy tools facilitated over $100 million in illicit
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  transactions, with the service processing billions in volume
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  and earning millions in fees. That makes me wonder how much
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  cash in U.S. dollars gets used for illicit activity every year?
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  And will cash then be considered illegal?
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  Maybe that's why we've seen more in more businesses stop
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  accepting cash since 2020. I don't know, might just be a
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  coincidence. In 2025, both developers pleaded
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  guilty to lesser charges. Rodriguez was sentenced to five
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  years in November and Hill to four years shortly after.
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  Rodriguez will be starting his sentence today on December 19th,
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  and Hill will be starting his sentence on January 2nd of next
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  year. The cypherpunks argue that PGP
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  was like any other published material because under the hood
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  it was just a serious of instructions to be carried out
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  by a machine. Restraint on freedom of
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  expression of software writers is anathema on a free society
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  and a violation of the 1st Amendment, wrote the economist
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  and entrepreneur Phil Salen in a 1991 essay titled Freedom of
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  Speech and Software. Encryption can't be controlled,
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  whether or not it's powerful or has impacts on the government
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  because it's free speech. In the early 90s, John Gilmore,
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  who was a Co founder of the cypherpunk movement, risked
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  going to jail in his campaign to force the government to
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  acknowledge that regulating encryption violated the First
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  Amendment. We basically had a community of
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  1000 people scattered around who were all trying different ideas
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  on how to get around the government to get encryption to
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  the masses. Critics view the case as an
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  attack on open source privacy tools and free speech for
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  developers, comparing it to past encryption battles.
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  Precedent is clear in Bernstein versus the DOJ 1996, a court
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  struck down controls on encryption code ruling Computer
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  language is just that, language. And while the courts ruled it a
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  speech, the feds fought for control over citizens under the
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  guise of fighting crime. The Clinton administration told
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  Congress that Americans have no constitutional right to choose
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  their own method of encryption and pushed for legislation that
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  would require companies to build in a mechanism for law
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  enforcement agencies to break in.
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  We're in favor of strong encryption, robust encryption.
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  We just want to make sure we have a trapdoor and a key under
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  some judge's authority where we can get there if if somebody's
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  planning a crime. Later cases doubled down.
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  Universal City Studios versus Corley in 2001 ruled that code
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  is still protected even if machine readable.
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  And Apple's 2015 fight against the FBI, who tried to force devs
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  to write back doors, was ruled compelled speech and therefore
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  unconstitutional. All these cases spell out what
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  is common sense for anyone familiar with the Constitution.
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  Computers code isn't just a tool, it's a form of expression.
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  Programmers use it to communicate ideas, solve
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  problems, and create, just like writers would use words or music
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  composers would use notes. Denying First Amendment
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  protection would crush innovation, privacy, and free
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  speech itself. What Eric meant by Cypherpunk's
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  write code is don't be one of those guys who goes to a
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  Libertarian Party conference and sits at about getting somebody
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  elected to the Los Gatos City Council.
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  That way lies madness. Whereas the interesting things
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  that had happened had been technological changes, the
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  telephone copy machine, the VCR. The philosophy that I really got
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  interested in is that you don't just go and ask the regulator
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  are we need more privacy online. You can fix it.
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  Arguing and complaining and lobbying and politics have
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  nominal effects on what changes the world is technology adoption
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  and, you know, society moving, shifting its viewpoints.
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  For crypto anarchists like May, writing code meant building
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  systems for anonymous transactions on the Internet
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  that made the arbitrary divisions of the political world
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  irrelevant. National borders are just speed
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  bumps on the information superhighway.
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  Code is language. Humans read, write, and debate
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  it. It conveys meaning through
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  syntax and logic. The Supreme Court even protects
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  symbolic speech like flag burning and art.
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  So code qualifies because it looks and acts like speech.
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  The code that me and Bill wrote for Samurai Wallet and Whirlpool
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  was free and open source code. So that code is out there.
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  You can't get rid of it. And shortly after our arrest and
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  take down some brave souls launched a fork of our code.
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  And Samurai wallet still exists and Whirlpool still exists and
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  people are using it. And now what all the government
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  has done is just drive it more underground than to the tour or
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  the dark web. And, and, and you know, these
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  people taking OPSEC incredibly seriously, not having a Twitter
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  handle, not having, you know, social media, just having a, a,
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  a Tor onion address, a, a dark web address, right.
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  So all they've done is drive it underground and, and make it
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  more resilient for the next time.
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  So this stuff is not going away. The code is out there.
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  You know, that's like the Pandora's box.
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  It's open now, there's no putting it back in.
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  Thankfully, bitcoiners and privacy advocates have some
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  allies in government. Believe it or not, I'm.
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  Free and it's because of you. You made this moment possible.
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  You did this. Thank you.
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  And you're not alone. You are part of something much
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  bigger. This is bigger than Bitcoin.
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  This is bigger than crypto. Freeing me took many, many
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  people from all walks of life coming together and saying this
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  is not right. It took many people just like
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  you saying we care about freedom and keeping somebody like Ross
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  in a cage until he dies is a threat to freedom itself.
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  It took President Trump recognizing that an injustice
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  had been done. And that's so many of you
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  demanded that I be. Freed President Donald Trump
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  pardoned Ross on January 21st, 2025 upon taking office,
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  fulfilling a campaign promise that he made to libertarians
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  during his presidential run. He described Olbrich's original
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  sentence to life terms plus 40 years as ridiculous because it
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  was, arguing that it was disproportionate to the crime
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  because it was. Trump also criticized the
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  prosecutors and judges involved, calling them scum and lunatics
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  who were part of the same weaponization of government he
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  claimed was used against him. The pardon of Ulbricht's case
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  supported Trump's broader pro cryptocurrency stance given Silk
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  Roads early use of Bitcoin. In the case of Samurai wallet,
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  Congressman warned Baron Davidson comments on the recent
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  Samurai case by saying he should be pardoned.
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  No charges should have been filed.
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  No trial should have occurred. This is the equivalent of
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  prosecuting gun manufacturers for what someone else does with
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  a gun. Perhaps he agrees with Trump's
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  fight against the weaponization of government and a Justice
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  Department full of scum and lunatics.
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  The bottom line is human beings have a right to privacy and that
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  extends to their online data too.
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• 9:55
  personal info and it's totally legal and totally dystopian.
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• 10:02
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  back. All right, Aura protects you,
• 10:43
  but now let's talk about protecting your Bitcoin future,
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  hashing. So is the Samurai case unjust?
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  Absolutely. This sets a scary precedent.
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  Build privacy tech, go to jail. They put you in jail right away.
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  No trial, no nothing. As Ross said, they wrote code
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  that worked too well. Community outrage is huge.
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  Petitions and funds are popping up everywhere, as they should.
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  Bitcoiners need to support one another, especially during times
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  like these. If you can, please sign the
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  petition and maybe donate for the 'cause I'm going to link
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  that in the description of the video below.
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  And most importantly, educate yourself about your First
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  Amendment rights and support candidates who will fight for
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  these rights. If anyone's interested in
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  learning more about the case or interested in signing the
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  petition asking the president to pardon me and Bill, you can do
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  that by going to billandkeone.org.
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  That's BILLANDKEONN. e.org. There's a link right at the top
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  there to sign the petition. Please do.
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  It definitely helps. I was in a Twitter space two
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  nights ago and Ross Olberg joined that Twitter space, the
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  first one that he's ever joined, and it was a really touching
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  moment. We had like a 5 minute
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  conversation, one-on-one together where he showed his
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  support. But one of the things that he
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  said was how important the Change.org petition was to him
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  getting his pardon, that it really does make a difference.
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  So please sign the petition, share it, get your friends and
• 13:23
  family to sign it. If you've heard me and think,
• 13:27
  oh, maybe there is something to this, If you've heard me and
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  said no, I'm not convinced, you definitely deserve to go to
• 13:32
  prison, that's OK too. I am going to prison so don't
• 13:36
  sign it. All right, before we wrap up the
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• 14:30
  Now let's wrap up the show. Are you as out raged as I am
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  about the creeping surveillance state, criminalizing code and
• 14:36
  invading your privacy? If you are, drop a comment and
• 14:39
  let me know. And if you enjoyed this video,
• 14:42
  smash the like button, hit the subscribe and turn on the
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  notifications for the most fire Bitcoin only news in the space.
• 14:49
  I'll see you in the next 1, so remember to stack.
• 14:52
  Slay and stay bullish, baby.