It has lately come to my consideration that a number of U.S. Congressmen who’ve taken very public pro-Bitcoin stances aren’t even conscious of the at present unfolding prosecution of Samourai Pockets builders Keonne Rodriguez and William Hill.
That is merely mind-boggling to me as a Bitcoiner. The present authorized prosecution of the Samourai workforce, in addition to the related prosecutions towards Roman Sterlingov, accused of working the mixer Bitcoin Fog, and Roman Storm and Roman Semenov, two builders behind Twister Money, are crucial authorized instances impacting the sovereign and personal use of Bitcoin on the docket in the present day.
Roman Sterlingov is sitting in jail proper now after a conviction attained with zero arduous proof by any means. His conviction was based mostly on nothing greater than unproven assertions by blockchain evaluation firm Chainalysis. The Samourai and Twister Money builders are being prosecuted beneath cash laundering laws for growing purely self custodial software program that, in no circumstances during which their software program could possibly be used, gave them any management over person funds.
The truth that this isn’t solely not on the radar of any Congressman or Congresswoman who claims to be pro-Bitcoin, however not being loudly talked about, is absurd.
So, let’s do one thing to vary that. I’m calling on each United States citizen studying this to take the shape letter beneath, fill it in appropriately, and ship it to your congressman or congresswoman — particularly in case you are in a district with a consultant claiming publicly to be pro-Bitcoin.
This text is a Take. Opinions expressed are fully the writer’s and don’t essentially replicate these of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Journal.
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[City, State, Zipcode]
[Email]
[Phone Number]
[Date]
The Consultant [or] Senator [Congressman or Congresswoman’s Name]
[Congressman/Congresswoman’s Address]
[City, State, Zipcode]
I’m writing as a involved citizen of [your State]. I want to deliver to your consideration a vital matter relating to the legal prosecution of open supply builders writing software program for the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Keonne Rodriguez and William Hill of Samourai Pockets, Roman Semenov and Roman Storm of Twister Money, are being prosecuted for numerous acts of or assertions of conspiracy to commit cash laundering. All 4 of those males have performed nothing however produce and publish open supply software program that was/is freely out there to the general public.
A foundational actuality of decentralized networks like Bitcoin is the power their structure provides to their customers to work together and transact with their cash utilizing nothing however open-source and freely out there software program that communicates with a decentralized laptop community. When utilizing cryptocurrencies on this method, nobody besides the tip person of the software program has any means to affect, management, or limit the switch of an individual’s belongings on these decentralized networks.
All 4 of those males have performed nothing past produce and function freely out there open-source software program with the purpose of serving to finish customers of those networks defend their private privateness. Individuals have a proper to privateness, particularly monetary privateness, which is why the Financial institution Secrecy Act mandates that monetary establishments take measures to guard the safety and confidentiality of American’s monetary info.
Blockchains by their very nature, nevertheless, are public shops of data. For everybody to ensure that the principles of the decentralized community are being adopted correctly, everybody should have the ability to obtain and confirm everything of a blockchain’s transactional historical past. Everybody’s transactional historical past. This permits anybody who you transact with to see doubtlessly how a lot wealth you will have, even to observe and study of future transactions you make.
This isn’t solely very delicate info to have within the public area generally, however it might probably current a really severe danger to individuals’s bodily security. Incidents of kidnapping, bodily assault, and residential invasion to be able to steal bitcoin from non-public people have elevated in frequency as its worth has elevated.
Software program that allows customers to take care of their privateness whereas utilizing networks like Bitcoin is crucial, not solely to their privateness generally, but additionally to their bodily security. Each Samourai Pockets and Twister Money achieve this in a purely self-custodial method, that means no entity aside from the tip customers themselves ever has management, or means to affect, the transactions which are made. This additionally signifies that there isn’t any authorized entity that the present prices truly apply to (i.e. a custodial monetary establishment topic to monetary laws).
Individually, Roman Sterlingov has been convicted in legal court docket of working a custodial mixing service used to realize privateness on the Bitcoin community. Whereas this service was custodial, and as such would have monetary regulatory obligations, the proof offered at trial of Roman’s involvement in working this service is only circumstantial. Many particulars of the character of this proof, and its questionability, exist on the general public file from Sterlingov’s legal professional Tor Ekeland.
I strongly urge you to research these issues, and take motion to right these extreme miscarriages of justice ensuing from the appliance of nonapplicable monetary laws to open-source software program builders, and the entire flouting of the necessities to point out proof behind an inexpensive doubt to realize conviction in a legal continuing.
[Only include the bold if your congressman/congresswoman is publicly pro-Bitcoin]
That is extremely essential in relation to the liberty to make use of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in a self-custodial and freedom-preserving method. I hope to see your actions in Congress reside as much as your stance on public file in relation to Bitcoin as a coverage concern.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
