Yesterday, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) accused Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, co-founders of Samourai Wallet, a privacy-focused Bitcoin wallet that also serves as a mixer, with money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transfer business.
Many, including activists and human rights defenders, spoke about the importance of this legal action shortly after the the news broke.
An extremely bad day for internet privacy
The implications of this are so dire
A real “before and after” moment https://t.co/ou6CgT9E0T
— Alex Gladstein 🌋 ⚡ (@gladstein) April 24, 2024
Lyudmyla Kozlovska, president of the Foundation for Open Dialoguewhich educates policymakers and regulators on how Bitcoin mixing services are tools for pro-democracy activists living under authoritarian regimes who must maintain their anonymity, has expressed concerns about a broader international effort to ban Bitcoin-related privacy tools.
“Looking at this event and the regulatory language in G7 countries, including the The AMLR adopted today by the European Parliamentwe can already see the beginning of this process to criminalize private payment tools,” Kozlovska told Bitcoin Magazine.
“Crimes can be committed with any technology, but that is no reason to criminalize or ban by definition a private payment tool, and especially not its developers,” she added.
“Since law enforcement was able to identify a money laundering offense using this particular wallet, it means that they have every means to detect such crimes and there is no need to criminalize this technology and its developers.
Kozlovksa then explained how most large money laundering schemes take place through traditional financial channels and exist in the form of expensive real estate deals or payments for consultations with former high-ranking government officials.
Anna Chekhovich, financial director of Anti-Corruption Foundation and non-profit Bitcoin adoption lead at Human Rights Foundationalso relies on bitcoin mixers and is concerned that the powers that be are not taking into consideration human rights activists who need to use this technology for their own security.
“As an activist, I don't like the trend where they are trying to control tools like mixers that give us privacy, because they are crucial for those fighting against dictatorships – activists, human rights defenders man, freedom fighters,” Chekhovich said. » said Bitcoin Magazine.
“At the Anti-Corruption Foundation, we use mixers because we need to protect (the identity of) our donors. We are responsible for the safety of our donors as we encourage them to support us financially, and if they support us they risk being imprisoned for up to eight years. We have a huge responsibility to do everything we can to prevent this from happening,” she added.
“We also need mixers to protect (the identity) of the recipients of our funds.”
That said, Kozlovska and Chekhovich implore those running other Bitcoin mixers not to invite bad actors to use their services in the same way as the founders of Samourai Wallet.
In the following tweet, cited in the accusations against Rodriguez and Hill, Samourai openly encouraged Russian oligarchs to use Samourai's mixing service to circumvent sanctions.
Welcome new users of Russian oligarch Samurai Wallet https://t.co/WBhB6J89SR
– Samurai Wallet (@SamouraiWallet) June 30, 2022
“It’s pure childishness,” Kozlovska told Bitcoin Magazine. “Such rhetoric certainly gives additional reason to attack both developers and private payment tools.”
Chekhovich echoed Kozlovska's point of view and elaborated on it.
“I absolutely do not support or condone those who encourage Russian oligarchs to use Bitcoin or any other Bitcoin-related tools like mixers,” Checkhovich told Bitcoin Magazine. “It was wrong to say such things, and it was not only bad for the owners of the platform, but also for the Bitcoin community in general.”