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melaviola
7ac13d241f026df5bf5e2f8a97f246304a7eff725f64b7262c3be1050567c381
Head of Legal at Relai 💙 | LNP/BP and privacy advocate 🧡 | *freedom demands bravery*

Not much need to be added.

A backdoor for the “good guys only” doesn’t exist.

And the “good guys” don’t exist either.

Even kittens need a corner where nobody’s watching.

Me: values privacy. You: thinks that’s suspicious. Them: mission accomplished.

⛔️ The internet is changing.

In the UK, you now need to show ID just to listen, watch, or post. Spotify asks for your passport. Reddit wants your selfie. YouTube scans your face.

This isn’t “safety.” It’s #surveillance. And every new database becomes a target waiting to be hacked.

The web was built for openness. Now it’s being rebuilt around checkpoints. No ID, no entry.

The path forward lies in #decentralization. Peer-to-peer networks, encrypted communications, and distributed platforms offer ways to connect without gatekeepers. These technologies restore the internet’s original promise: open access to information and the freedom to communicate without requiring anyone’s permission. The open web is being enclosed behind checkpoints. But technology that prizes #privacy and resists #surveillance remains within reach if we choose to build and use it before the door closes entirely.

Doxxing people for being assholes might feel human, but it’s a dangerous slope. Normalize it now, and tomorrow it’s not trolls, it’s dissent.

Anonymity isn’t a bug of the internet. It’s a feature. Even when it protects idiots, it protects the people who really need it.

That’s my kind of roller coasters.

On my way to @BTCPrague.

Who else?

(Keep calm, it’s just Bologna Airport.)

🇮🇹 June 2, 1946

Italy becomes a Republic

Women vote for the first time

21 women join Parliament

Not bad for a Monday!

Hope you have celebrated!!

Thanks! 🧡🧡🧡

If you want to preserve value on an open-source protocol like Bitcoin, you need to protect privacy and fungibility.

There’s no choice.

Governments don't have a Bitcoin problem.

They have a non-KYC Bitcoin problem.

That's really all there is to it .

Buy

Stack

Spend

Replace

Love

Again

Love

Stack

Spend

Replace

Love

Again

In the digital age, no privacy means we’re all fucked. Deal with it.

In February 2024, the arrest of Samourai Wallet developers Rodriguez and Hill sent shockwaves through the Bitcoin community. They were charged with “conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business” and money laundering—despite the fact that Samourai Wallet is a non-custodial Bitcoin app, meaning users always control their own funds, and the developers never have access.

Launched in 2015, Samourai is simply software—it doesn’t hold or transmit users’ money.

The charges hinge on the claim that the developers should have registered as a Money Services Business (MSB) with FinCEN. However, recently surfaced legal documents show that prosecutors had consulted FinCEN before filing charges—and the agency had made it explicitly clear that Samourai did not qualify as an MSB, since it never takes custody of users’ funds.

Still, the Southern District of New York (SDNY) went ahead with the indictment. Internal communications even show a prosecutor acknowledging that, based on FinCEN’s guidance, Samourai would not fall under MSB rules. This came to light through a Brady letter—a required disclosure of exculpatory evidence—filed by the defense.

The case raises serious concerns about “regulation by prosecution,” where authorities bypass regulatory clarity in favor of criminal charges. If allowed to stand, this could set a dangerous precedent: one where developers of non-custodial software can be criminalized, even when they follow existing rules.

The outcome of the Samourai Wallet case could shape the future of financial privacy, open-source development, and Bitcoin fundamentals.

I was never really interested in what money was—until I discovered Bitcoin.

Who can relate?

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The most dangerous minority in the world isn’t the one demanding rights and freedoms — it’s the one regulating them.

The real fight isn’t just against bad regulation — it’s to assert a vision where technology is seen as civil infrastructure, not a threat to be contained.