The Samourai Wallet developers created a tool improving privacy for bitcoin on-chain use, similar to cash. Users held control of their own funds.
Prosecutors ignored FinCEN guidance and concocted an unreasonable legal theory of liability to charge them both with breaking money transmission laws despite the tool never taking custody of the funds.
Facing millions in legal costs, 25 years in prison, an overzealous and unfair prosecution, and a Judge with no patience for understanding the broader legal and technical arguments, the developers were essentially forced to plead to lesser charges of "conspiracy" for the sake of their families.
Now, both developers have one month before they are to turn themselves in for 4+ years of incarceration, all for creating a piece of open-source code that allowed people to do want they wanted with their own money.
This prosecution is an unwarranted and unjust process of law that will be looked back on in shame. Every legal tool or resource should be dispensed in order to free them and reverse the dangerous precedent this sets for privacy and financial sovereignty.
Privacy is not a crime, and open-source developers who empower users are not criminals.
Many wealthy and powerful people today use bitcoin and cryptocurrencies to safeguard their wealth and benefit from a real-time settlement network without intermediaries. Every consumer benefits from better tech tools that allow them to take control of their money and spend how they wish.
If people of influence understand and appreciate the broader ethos of the Bitcoin and crypto revolution, rather than trading and getting rich off fees from their shitcoins, they should advocate for both the pardon of these two individuals and for legal safeguards in federal law to ensure this never happens again.
It is not just two these people's lives at stake, but it's the future of how Americans will interact and benefit from technology going forward.
#freesamourai
