It has not too long ago come to my consideration that a number of U.S. Congressmales 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 crew, in addition to the related prosecutions in opposition to Roman Sterlingov, accused of working the mixer Bitcoin Fog, and Roman Storm and Roman Semenov, two builders behind Tornado Money, are crucial authorized circumstances impacting the sovereign and personal use of Bitcoin on the docket at present.
Roman Sterlingov is sitting in jail proper now after a conviction attained with zero onerous proof by any means. His conviction was based mostly on nothing greater than unproven assertions by blockchain evaluation firm Chainalysis. The Samourai and Tornado Money builders are being prosecuted underneath cash laundering laws for growing purely self custodial software program that, in no circumstances by which their software program might be used, gave them any management over person funds.
The truth that this isn’t solely not on the radar of any Congressman or Congressgirl who claims to be pro-Bitcoin, however not being loudly talked about, is absurd.
So, let’s do one thing to alter 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 if you’re in a district with a consultant claiming publicly to be pro-Bitcoin.
This text is a Take. Opinions expressed are fully the creator’s and don’t essentially mirror 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 an important matter concerning the felony 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 Tornado Money, are being prosecuted for numerous acts of or assertions of conspiracy to commit cash laundering. All 4 of those males have executed 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 offers 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 pc community. When utilizing cryptocurrencies on this approach, nobody besides the tip person of the software program has any capacity to affect, management, or prohibit the switch of an individual’s belongings on these decentralized networks.
All 4 of those males have executed nothing past produce and function freely out there open-source software program with the goal 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 knowledge. For everybody to ensure that the foundations of the decentralized community are being adopted correctly, everybody should be capable to obtain and confirm the whole thing of a blockchain’s transactional historical past. Everybody’s transactional historical past. This enables anybody who you transact with to see probably how a lot wealth you’ve, even to observe and be taught of future transactions you make.
This isn’t solely very delicate info to have within the public area usually, however it will probably current a really severe danger to folks’s bodily security. Incidents of kidnapping, bodily assault, and residential invasion as a way to steal bitcoin from personal 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 usually, but in addition to their bodily security. Each Samourai Pockets and Tornado Money accomplish that in a purely self-custodial method, that means no entity apart from the tip customers themselves ever has management, or capacity to affect, the transactions which are made. This additionally signifies that there is no such thing as a authorized entity that the present fees really apply to (i.e. a custodial monetary establishment topic to monetary laws).
Individually, Roman Sterlingov has been convicted in felony court docket of working a custodial mixing service used to attain privateness on the Bitcoin community. Whereas this service was custodial, and as such would have monetary regulatory obligations, the proof introduced 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 document from Sterlingov’s lawyer Tor Ekeland.
I strongly urge you to research these issues, and take motion to appropriate these extreme miscarriages of justice ensuing from the appliance of nonapplicable monetary laws to open-source software program builders, and the whole flouting of the necessities to indicate proof behind an affordable doubt to attain conviction in a felony continuing.
[Only include the bold if your congressman/congresswoman is publicly pro-Bitcoin]
That is extremely necessary relating to the liberty to make use of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in a self-custodial and freedom-preserving approach. I hope to see your actions in Congress dwell as much as your stance on public document relating to Bitcoin as a coverage situation.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
