Samourai Wallet seized and founders arrested

[dkbit98]

Another service focused on user privacy that is closed with the excuse of money laundering.

According to them everyone and everything will be laundering money soon, except them
I was never a supporter and regular user of Samourai wallet but I respect all the work they did for privacy.
They probably made some mistakes along the way, but we all did, and I never once thought they should be arrest for creating bitcoin wallet.
Question is what wallet and service is next on the list in their evil agenda?

[Z-tight]

Question is what wallet and service is next on the list in their evil agenda?

Good question, because surely there must be other privacy focused wallets and services under their radar, i saw a few people mentioning Wasabi in bitcointalk, i don't know if it is just speculation or if there is actually any hint at that. Privacy is taking a big hit right now and soon anyone who wants privacy could be called a money launderer without any evidence or fact.

[Baofeng]

Question is what wallet and service is next on the list in their evil agenda?

Good question, because surely there must be other privacy focused wallets and services under their radar, i saw a few people mentioning Wasabi in bitcointalk, i don't know if it is just speculation or if there is actually any hint at that. Privacy is taking a big hit right now and soon anyone who wants privacy could be called a money launderer without any evidence or fact.

Yeah, most likely Wasabi and Sparrow are now in the cross-hair of the US government agency and maybe just gathering enough data to nail down the owners just like what they did to Samourai.

And they really sending a hard message to crypto enthusiast specially those who uses anonymous wallet or mixer or any services that obfuscated Bitcoin transaction, that they will be hot on their tail.

Nevertheless, it's just a matter of time before a new service will emerge from the ashes of Samourai.

[Freemind]

According to them everyone and everything will be laundering money soon, except them
I was never a supporter and regular user of Samourai wallet but I respect all the work they did for privacy.
They probably made some mistakes along the way, but we all did, and I never once thought they should be arrest for creating bitcoin wallet.
Question is what wallet and service is next on the list in their evil agenda?

I haven't used Samourai Wallet much either, I tried it a while ago, but nothing more. But the problem is that little by little they are closing and prohibiting everything that is related to privacy, while many governments and agencies use Pegasus (and other software) with impunity in the same way they used Carnivore a few decades ago, violating international laws on privacy rights.

The next to fall? It could be another wallet, a mixer, or anything that makes them think it's used to launder money, which is really stupid. That is why it is normal that every day there are more services available only on .onion domains. It's not always about hiding something, but about being able to use it freely.

[Lucius]

~snip~
The next to fall? It could be another wallet, a mixer, or anything that makes them think it's used to launder money, which is really stupid. That is why it is normal that every day there are more services available only on .onion domains. It's not always about hiding something, but about being able to use it freely.

It seems that some will take drastic steps to avoid a similar fate, which means that they will stop offering their "services" in the US. From what can be read, it is possible that mixers are not the only target, at least that is what the move of a well-known LN wallet suggests.

Realistically, if "they" want to regulate (ban) something, we can do a little to fight against it. However, we should not lose hope, because unless they shut down the entire internet, there will always be a way for privacy.

Phoenix Wallet, a non-custodial Bitcoin lightning wallet, has announced that it’s being removed from US-based app stores and encouraged users to make sure to empty their wallets.

This decision seems to have been made by ACINQ, the company behind Phoenix Wallet, which stated in a tweet that “recent announcements from US authorities cast a doubt on whether self-custodial wallet providers, Lightning service providers, or even Lightning nodes could be considered Money Services Businesses and be regulated as such.”

[dkbit98]

Good question, because surely there must be other privacy focused wallets and services under their radar, i saw a few people mentioning Wasabi in bitcointalk, i don't know if it is just speculation or if there is actually any hint at that.

It's possible Wasabi could be next, but I think they played a bit smarter game than Samourai developers.
Coinjoin is not illegal, but they can always make some bitcoin address connections with ''hackers'' and blame them for them.
Government is so very lucky to always have ''evil'' hackers from N.Korea and other countries for that purpose 

Yeah, most likely Wasabi and Sparrow are now in the cross-hair of the US government agency and maybe just gathering enough data to nail down the owners just like what they did to Samourai.

There is no real reason to touch Sparrow wallet.
They didn't directly do anything except providing different interface to Samourai wallet, and in latest version they removed all that from their code.

The next to fall? It could be another wallet, a mixer, or anything that makes them think it's used to launder money, which is really stupid. That is why it is normal that every day there are more services available only on .onion domains. It's not always about hiding something, but about being able to use it freely.

Or maybe a cryptocurrency forum? 
They like to mix things, so maybe they will take a break and move on some exchange next.
Now would be the best time to improve security and privacy for any crypto service.

[Z-tight]

Or maybe a cryptocurrency forum? 

It could be, lol, and that is why Theymos has gone ahead to ban mixers in bitcointalk, even though mixers are still very much legal. However, i don't think they would care about crypto forums, they do not enhance their users privacy and it even gives the government the opportunity to send their reps here, who create accounts lowkey and monitor new privacy services.

[Stompix]

It's possible Wasabi could be next, but I think they played a bit smarter game than Samourai developers.

https://blog.wasabiwallet.io/zksnacks-now-blocking-u-s-residents-and-citizens/

Saturday, April 27th 2024—Effective immediately and until further notice, zkSNACKs is now blocking U.S. citizens and residents from visiting its websites, downloading and using Wasabi Wallet and any related products and services, including APIs and RPC interfaces.

In light of recent announcements by U.S. authorities, zkSNACKs is now strictly prohibiting U.S. users from using its services. An IP address blocking for U.S. residents is effective on wasabiwallet.io, api.wasabiwallet.io and zksnacks.com.

“U.S.” refers to “United States” and includes the several states of the United States and related territories. If you are a United States Citizen or United States Resident, you are not allowed to visit any sites aforementioned, download Wasabi Wallet or use the Wasabi Wallet coinjoin feature. This includes if you are a U.S. permanent resident or if you are an individual that holds a U.S. passport.

Let's see how this works for them, and if it wasn't too late.
Probably next is mandatory KYC....

[Baofeng]

Good question, because surely there must be other privacy focused wallets and services under their radar, i saw a few people mentioning Wasabi in bitcointalk, i don't know if it is just speculation or if there is actually any hint at that.

It's possible Wasabi could be next, but I think they played a bit smarter game than Samourai developers.
Coinjoin is not illegal, but they can always make some bitcoin address connections with ''hackers'' and blame them for them.
Government is so very lucky to always have ''evil'' hackers from N.Korea and other countries for that purpose 

Yeah, most likely Wasabi and Sparrow are now in the cross-hair of the US government agency and maybe just gathering enough data to nail down the owners just like what they did to Samourai.

There is no real reason to touch Sparrow wallet.
They didn't directly do anything except providing different interface to Samourai wallet, and in latest version they removed all that from their code.

The next to fall? It could be another wallet, a mixer, or anything that makes them think it's used to launder money, which is really stupid. That is why it is normal that every day there are more services available only on .onion domains. It's not always about hiding something, but about being able to use it freely.

Or maybe a cryptocurrency forum? 
They like to mix things, so maybe they will take a break and move on some exchange next.
Now would be the best time to improve security and privacy for any crypto service.

For now you can say that, but we all know that US government will do anything to shut down this operations that they deemed "evil".

Interface, they could also include that in their witch hunt, everything that provided anything to anyone,  will again be at their arm's length.

Or yeah, maybe the honeypot of them all, cryptocurrency forum, 

[Z-tight]

Interface, they could also include that in their witch hunt, everything that provided anything to anyone,  will again be at their arm's length.

Anything that provides privacy to people, and they also believe that most crypto services are being used for money laundering, so they are going after them all. I also believe they are witch hunting at this point, and every crypto service will be under their radar at some point, however i don't think they will care about crypto forums.

[Lucius]

~snip~
Let's see how this works for them, and if it wasn't too late.
Probably next is mandatory KYC....

It seems that real panic has reigned in the country of the "biggest democracy", and I suppose that it is only a matter of time before the bureaucrats in the EU will follow the same path. If nothing else, at least it won't bother us until the elections for the European Parliament take place or until the MiCA comes into full force.

[Stompix]

It seems that real panic has reigned in the country of the "biggest democracy", and I suppose that it is only a matter of time before the bureaucrats in the EU will follow the same path. If nothing else, at least it won't bother us until the elections for the European Parliament take place or until the MiCA comes into full force.

I'm not surprised at all by what the US is doing, I think we have a big misconception of things because they haven't acted before and have left a lot of time pass by before they did so. The thing about democracy has nothing to do with their financial stuff, the IRS has been for decades the nightmare of everyone even during the golden era of growth, you can't even get rid of your citizenship that easily and it has also been the case for years, they tax everything they have a hundred laws about capital control, they just left crypto alone and everyone thought well, this is the norm when it was actually an exception.

You (not you personally!) wanted regulation this is what comes with regulation, it's the same in every branch, from ridesharing to prostitution, you finally do lawfully things by the book and you cry at night about the times when it wasn't regulated and everything was nice and easy!

In terms of right and privacy and freedom things will get only worse, and this is just the beginning!

[NotATether]

A reminder that running your own node and wallet is perfectly legal.

And performing coinjoin with random people, as long as you know that they aren't wanted folks, is also legal.

And running your own lightning node and channels is also legal.

And also exchanging your cryptocurrency for another kind of crypto is also legal, ID or no ID.

This is FUD. This particular agency of the feds is very good at it. So, don't fall for this FUD, and keep using Bitcoin.

[Z-tight]

This is FUD. This particular agency of the feds is very good at it. So, don't fall for this FUD, and keep using Bitcoin.

I agree, even mixers are not illegal, but the government is seriously going after them, we all know all of these things you mentioned is still legal, but the government is attacking BTC's fungibility and treating certain coins that go through privacy tools as 'tainted'.

And also exchanging your cryptocurrency for another kind of crypto is also legal, ID or no ID.

Better to do that on a p2p exchange. If you deposit coins that have been mixed or from a CoinJoin tx into a centralized exchange, it would be confiscated, even though mixers & CoinJoin are not illegal.

[Charles-Tim]

According to them everyone and everything will be laundering money soon, except them

Almost all laundered money are in two places. Either bank or underground buried somewhere.

Question is what wallet and service is next on the list in their evil agenda?

Maybe Sparrow or another centralized mixer. Those banks are not arrested but many of the money they have with them are not clean.

And also exchanging your cryptocurrency for another kind of crypto is also legal, ID or no ID.

Better to do that on a p2p exchange. If you deposit coins that have been mixed or from a CoinJoin tx into a centralized exchange, it would be confiscated, even though mixers & CoinJoin are not illegal.

If it was before, they ask for KYC. Many of them are now KYC exchanges. Some will still ask for source of the coin. Some are given back to the owner. But this has been a way those centralized exchanges scam people. Send in many hops before sending to a centralized exchange.