Politics is one dimension, yes, but not everything. The tech has to get better, too.
Without engaging in politics, we’ll watch many more cases like Samourai come to fruition.
And I’m not sure I follow… the Samourai devs are pleading guilty.
Agreed 100%
And, yes, your life is the definition of proof of work.
C’mon now, girl, it’s me and the rest of the Bitcoin community that should be thanking you.
Thank you for all that you do. You set the advocacy standard for the rest of us.
“We will prevent labeling Bitcoin and any kind of privacy payment and communication tools as something negative…
We need to have a solution in which privacy is not something which is bad. It’s actually [our] main right and this right needs to be protected.” nostr:npub13ajk3hhvqys2ev4y68jwxywgs8fsdsuk4y5gkzs874jdyrccvf5qak2yd9
That’s a good question. I don’t know. From a legal perspective, I can’t imagine that it doesn’t set a bad precedent for other devs in similar situations, though.
Yes.
The defense rests in the Tornado Cash trial, and the Samourai devs change their plea from “not guilty” to “guilty.”
My thoughts on both:
That’s a great idea. Thank you.
Is there anyone you’d like to see me speak with on my pod regarding the Tornado Cash trial, especially as it’s coming to a close?
Please drop suggestions in the comments.
Here’s a version of a thread on the Tornado Cash trial that I posted on X earlier today…
(When threads on Nostr??)
Dr. Matthew Edman is the first witness on the stand today.
He’s a co-founder and partner at the blockchain cybersecurity firm Naxo, and he’s a cryptography expert.
Thus far, in his direct testimony, guided by the defense’s Ms. Axel, he’s distilled how Ethereum works and defined terms such as “non-custodial” and “immutable”.
He’s also explained how smart contracts worked and described how and why the Tornado Cash smart contracts were immutable.
He’s made it clear to the jury that, as of May 18, 2020, Roman Storm had no ability to alter TC smart contracts nor access user funds with those smart contracts.
He also highlighted that the TC pools still exist and that the pools themselves don’t charge any fees.
He explained to the jury what TC relayers are and what the purpose of the TC DAO was.
He commented on a slide that was made and presented by IRS Special Agent George that detailed the TORN tokens that SA George said each of the TC founders held as of Dec. 18, 2020, noting that the founders didn’t have access to these tokens at the time (which was when, I believe, SA George said Storm had sent these tokens to Binance to sell them - please don’t quote me on this yet, though; I need more info).
Dr. Edman also explained that the DAO can’t modify TC pools, only the ancillary smart contracts through the governance process.
He also explained how GitHub works and the difference between UI and CLI.
Dr. Edman described how the code for the TC UI could be downloaded and run by different parties, not just the TC devs.
He also detailed the nature of IPFS, which the TC UI ran on, and which he described as a “decentralized database.”
He also discussed how Storm implemented Geoblocking for the TC UI as well as the Chainalysis oracle, which blocked sanctioned addresses from using the TC UI.
Dr. Edman has also challenged the findings of Mr. Werlau and SA DeCapua.
He was particularly harsh in his critique of Mr. Werlau’s gas ratio analysis.
IMO, Dr. Edman has been a particularly strong witness, but, unfortunately, the jury looked a bit bored and maybe even overwhelmed as he walked the court through a lot of technical jargon and how it applies to the case.
Hopefully, the jury grasped enough of what he had to say, as it presented a version of events that shows that Storm and the TC devs didn’t have as much control over the TC front end (and definitely not of the pools) as the prosecution claimed.
During the prosecution’s cross-examination of Mr. Edman, Mr. Edman agreed that most TC deposits went through the TC router between Dec. 2020 and Aug. 2022.
The prosecution also brought up how the full source code for TC wasn’t made available via GitHub until July 2022.
Dr. Edman contextualized by stating that a minified version of the code was available via GitHub starting in Sept. 2020.
The prosecution also highlighted that fewer than 50 addresses with TORN tokens voted in some of the DAO votes and that the TC founders could have had a large degree of influence over votes because of how many tokens they had (post Dec. 2021, when they got access to their tokens).
The prosecution made an effort to get Dr. Edman to share that the source code for geoblocking via the TC UI was never implemented, but Dr. Edman didn’t confirm this.
During the last ten minutes of the trial day, a second witness, Tyler Alameida, cybersecurity expert at Coinbase, took the stand to briefly share how he used TC to maintain his privacy when he made an ETH donation to the Ukrainian war fund.
As week three of the Tornado Cash trial commenced, the defense’s expert digital forensics witness took the stand and questioned the integrity of the claims made by the blockchain tracers and analysts that the prosecution had testify.
I just need to hear Goggins’ voice for about 30 seconds before any semblance of an excuse for what I really wanted to do has completely disappeared from my mind.
CLIPSE - Let God Sort Em Out
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lfFeKLvDqhTQwmfolUjDBfbyrjjgdmYcE
This record is bananas.
Building brick by brick an underrated approach.
You don’t always need a clever strategy.
Just start hitting some singles.
Bitcoin included
Thank you, sir 🙏
It’s not a given that Bitcoin wins politically.
I recently sat down with Avik Roy to discuss the potential political outcomes for Bitcoin.
“We’ve come a long way since the Biden administration where they had no idea what you were talking about and half of you were in jail.” -President Trump
It was a distinct honor and privilege to talk about bitcoin as money with the White House Press Secretary today.
On day one of the Tornado Cash trial, the defense raised questions around the legitimacy of some of the evidence submitted to the court, while the jury selection process began.
More in my latest:
🎯
Not totally sure I believe you as I don’t think distribution is their problem 😂
Does anyone out there subscribe to any cool tech- or start-up-focused newsletters?
I believe beyond the shadow of a doubt that Calle is a magician.
nostr:nevent1qqsy76y4up4zmdvkjkf90quhl9ufy02j2rr0ztevdvllkf7jtr558fqp06894
The Bitcoin Policy Institute, the Blockchain Association, The DeFi Education Fund, and other institutions have teamed up to issue an amicus brief in defense of open-source developers who are being wrongfully prosecuted as money transmitters.
The brief argues that these devs aren’t in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1960.
Link to full brief: https://www.defieducationfund.org/_files/ugd/84ba66_a0475d7bbcf4436a83f68e792c554b4a.pdf
The yearly limits hurts the spirit of what the bill is trying to facilitate, yes, but it’s a start.
Just finished up a great rip with Julian Fahrer of BitcoinLaws.io.
We covered:
📌 Senator Lummis’ new Bitcoin tax exemption law
📌 Troy Cross’ findings on Bitcoin voter demographics
📌 Updates on Bitcoin laws from AZ, CA, CT & MA
📌 The OBBB
📌 Pakistan and the IMF
📌 Takeaways from my interview at nostr:nprofile1qqstvj22wngc5t0687qvak06mt34spm3dl8pqu0ymcv7946xkmv8vpsppemhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mp0qyfhwumn8ghj7ur4wfcxcetsv9njuetn9udfucax with Venezuelan opposition leader nostr:nprofile1qqszrx6getwup84zrycttvd78qcvf55prr2a5suaayczawhepvnk57cpzemhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuurjd9kkzmpwdejhgqghwaen5te0xyenqt3kxyhrywfwxymrxw358q6rs3w0yyw as they pertain to NYC’s new mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani
Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/live/ZGvcSXcJzlk?si=p3Sn1Dsxi529GviU
🇹🇿🌍🇹🇿nostr:nprofile1qqsw4v882mfjhq9u63j08kzyhqzqxqc8tgf740p4nxnk9jdv02u37ncpz4mhxue69uhkummnw3ezumtpd35kutn0dekqz9rhwden5te0dehhxarjwdshganp9ehx2aqkrad8w nostr:nprofile1qqsw3znfr6vdnxrujezjrhlkqqjlvpcqx79ys7gcph9mkjjsy7zsgygpzpmhxue69uh5ummnw3ezuamfdejsz9thwden5te0v4jx2m3wdehhxarj9ekxzmnymlvvup nostr:nprofile1qqswtsl7gdnzjxq3g4xhgc9ex33nfmelfc2fw5dglf04zxdm3hwjw4cprpmhxue69uhhqun9d45h2mfwwpexjmtpdshxuet5rue76d nostr:nprofile1qqsgqke57uygxl0m8elstq26c4mq2erz3dvdtgxwswwvhdh0xcs04scppemhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mp0qyt8wumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnvvfjx2a3wve6kutcvrqzhm nostr:nprofile1qqs254dy0xkkjdxsl4u08k7cs52u689q67s3pqfwwyfcp4va7avcjdgpz4mhxue69uhk2er9dchxummnw3ezumrpdejqzxrhwden5te0d35kw6r5de5kuemjv4kxz7fwvdhk6xgwwgl @
https://blossom.primal.net/44bdb76e47f6d328112612a6543e14cca9c82dceff0696e5d4394d64ae98cd79.mp4
👀
