One of the most absurd parts of the Samourai Wallet prosecution/persecution by the SDNY is the fact that Keonne and Bill are NOT allowed to use Bitcoin by judge's order...
Bitcoin is just money.
Imagine if the Big Bankers at JP Morgan, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, etc. were told they were not allowed to use DOLLARS after they were caught LAUNDERING MONEY FOR CARTELS, INTERNATIONAL CRIMINALS, JEFFREY EPSTEIN, ETC. (many, many times)
That would be crazy, right?
Well, it wouldn't actually be that crazy... What's crazy is that the big banks are allowed to continue operating without anyone ever being held accountable when it is KNOWN that they are the biggest money launderers on the planet... Alas, I digress....
But of course the difference here is, in contrast to the big banks, Keonne and Bill did NOT launder any money. They never took possession of ANY money at any time. Samourai Wallet's services were entirely non-custodial.
Thus, they could not launder money because that implies actually holding (taking custody of) the money at some point.
Even FINCEN (the regulator in charge of these things) said Samourai Wallet was NOT operating an "unlicensed money transmitter business."
In contrast, the big banks take full custody of customer funds when they launder money for cartels, international criminals, Jeffrey Epstein, etc.
Why has no one from the big banks gone to jail?
Why do the big banks (who actually launder money) simply pay a fine as a cost of doing business, while open-source Bitcoin developers are sent to prison?
Why are the big bankers still allowed to use US dollars, given they admit that they launder money for criminals?
Why, in contrast, are Keonne and Bill NOT allowed to use Bitcoin, when they did NOT launder any money?
Why are Keonne and Bill treated so much more harshly than the big bankers who are actually committing crimes?
Bitcoin is money. Keonne and Bill used bitcoin as money.
Now, SDNY made it impossible for them to use their money of choice, Bitcoin.
Perhaps the Southern District of New York knew that if Keonne and Bill were allowed to keep using Bitcoin, they would receive a massive influx of donations in bitcoin, which would have given them the economic energy they needed to mount a massive appeal and spark backlash against SDNY...
So what did SDNY do? They made using bitcoin punishable by more jail time...
Again I ask you, why are Keonne and Bill treated exponentially worse than the big bankers who launder money for drug cartels and sex traffickers like Jeffrey Epstein?
Because in our broken fiat system, those closest to the creation of new money have the most power and derive the greatest benefit from their proximity to the money printer.
The big bankers are as close as it gets to the money printer.
They have the power.
They influence the rules and laws.
There is a revolving door between the big banks and the government regulators.
And they are scared shitless of bitcoin because it is a direct challenge to their monopoly on monetary control.
All Keonne and Bill did was build an open-source privacy tool. They wrote freedom-tech software that is aligned with the American ethos, and their software was used by countless law-abiding Americans.
Privacy is not a crime.
Non-custodial, open-source software is protected by the First Amendment.
The attack on Samourai Wallet is an attack on privacy, on Bitcoin, and on our basic freedoms as Americans.
Remember: the government does NOT give you freedoms.
They can only take your freedoms away.
We as individuals must take our freedoms if we expect to have any.
We take our freedoms by using open-source software, by opting out of the coercive, violent fiat system and opting in to the voluntary, peaceful Bitcoin parallel system.
But when open-source software developers are unjustly attacked by a weaponized judicial system, we cannot simply disengage and ignore it.
We must actively engage.
We must lean in and make our voices heard.
They are coming for the developers first, but make no mistake, they will come for you, too.
The persecution of Keonne and Bill should enrage you. If it doesn't, you're not paying attention.
#pardonsamourai #freesamourai
