NEWSLETTER
I have spoken with several politicians in recent weeks. All see bitcoin as a value reserve and believe that US citizens have the right to maintain their private keys.
I cannot say that you do not feel good to listen to the elected officials to express these points of view and even propose bills that would encode pro –bitcoin legislation in law. It is surely refreshing, especially after the political antagonism that Bitcoinists and the bitcoin industry suffered under the Biden administration.
That said, there is still a job to be done, and much of that work implies advocating our right to make transactions with bitcoin in private.
One of the best preservation tools of privacy that we have in the bitcoin base layer is bitcoin Mixers, which help users to anonymize their transactions.
And one of the best -known mixers was Samourai Wallet, which allowed users to mix their bitcoin in a non -custodial way. That is, the developers and maintainers of the wallet never touched the private keys of the users.
However, this software was closed at the beginning of last year, when the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) (DOJ) charges pressed Against Samourai developers, including conspiracy to operate money without a license that transmits businesses and conspiracy to commit money laundering charges. (Cash Tornado developers, open source mixing software implemented in ethereum, are also facing similar charges.
Some politicians, including Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) have come out in support of Samouaurai developers, writing a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lummis.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/Lummis-Wyden-Letter-on-Non-Custodial-crypto-Asset-Software.pdf” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>letter For the former Attorney General of the United States, the Honorable Merrick Garland, in which they described that developers clearly did not operate a money transmission business according to the definition of said business in 2019 FINCEN guide. (That said, Senator Lummis is also co -author of a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.gillibrand.senate.gov/news/press/release/gillibrand-lummis-warren-marshall-announce-senate-passage-of-amendment-to-ndaa-to-prevent-use-of-crypto-assets-in-illicit-financial-transactions/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>bill in which she asks the United States Treasury to “conduct a study on how to combat transactions of anonymous cryptographic assets such as asset mixers,” but I am wandering).
Mixers are incredibly important for human rights activists who need to maintain their anonymity when sending and receiving funds, as well as for common persons who value transactional privacy.
Therefore, we need to call this issue to the attention of politicians, since many are not familiar with him, so, hopefully, that more of them leave in defense of Samourai developers and see the importance of preserving the right of US citizens to use mixers.
For this reason, I ask you to use the letters of cards published by my colleague Shinobi at the end of this piece to write your representatives.
Just as we have gathered to free Ross and to protect the right to self -commission, we must meet in support of transactional privacy.
This is something that I, the political correspondent for this publication, I cannot do alone. I need your help. Then, take into account this call to action and inform your representatives about this matter so that when you have a conversation with them, they have some understanding of the problem.
