Samurai Wallet Founders: Legal Battle and Privacy Implications

The US government has agreed to release Samurai wallet Founder William Ionian Hill on bail, despite ongoing controversy and legal challenges.

### US Government Agrees to Release Samurai Wallet Founder on Bail Amidst Legal Battle
* 🔓 The US government has agreed to the release on bail of Samurai Wallet Founder William Ionian Hill, also known as Tev, with the defense requesting he be released to his home in Lisbon, Portugal, and the government supporting **release to his sister's basement in Brooklyn**, which is opposed by the defense.
* 📜 Hill's defense argues that the prosecution's interpretation of the law has generated considerable controversy, with FinCEN guidance long making it clear that **peer-to-peer apps like Samurai do not qualify as money transmitting services**.
* 📱 Google first offered the Samurai wallet Android app in its App Store in May 2015, and it remained available through April 2024 when Google removed it following **Hill and his codefendants' arrest**.
* 🏛 The defense states that the government's prosecution of individuals operating a service they had every reason to believe was legal aims to **stop Bitcoin wallet providers from offering privacy and security services** without seeking to **change the law or FinCEN guidance**.
* 🕵 The podcaster expresses a belief that Samurai Wallet was a "**honey pot**" designed to monitor criminals, speculating that the leaked data to Samurai Wallet has now become the **government's possession**.
* ⚖ Once dragged into the legal system, the podcaster argues that it becomes difficult to win, but he sees the recent development as positive for the Samurai Wallet devs, highlighting the **strong points made by their lawyers**.
* 🛡 The podcaster views the situation as an **attack on privacy and personal freedom**, expressing a commitment to **continue covering the Samurai Wallet case**.

back in April, the Samurai Wallet Founders were arrested for money laundering. Well, we finally got an update on this case, and we're going to dive into it right now. Welcome back, everyone. Before we dive into it, we are just going to do a quick word from our sponsors. If you are looking for some beautiful craftsmanship and you are a pet rock enjoyer, check out the Bitcoin R triangle. That's right, guys. 16 oz of solid titanium for all of you pet rock enjoyers, and that is at Cipher Safe. Also, don't forget to check out BTC pins at BTCpins.com. He is making some of the most iconic Bitcoin pins out there. Boom, check out the pin collection. That's right, guys. It's absolutely awesome. Get 5% off using the code pleb underground at BTCpins.com. I know it's a little bit of a different format for the people who enjoy clips, but this week we do not have our normal weekly episode. Um, so I'm going to do a clip about the story that we've been

covering for a while, and for me, I'm particularly interested in this, uh, because I think it has much bigger implications than just Bitcoin, right? Like, I think that this has wider implications about, um, we'll say personal, uh, privacy. Um, so anyways, let's dive into this. A letter filed on July 3rd in the case against Samurai wallet Founders Keon Rodriguez and William Ionian Hill reveals that the US government has agreed to the release on bail of Hill, also known as Tev. The parties have agreed that Mr. Hill should be released on bail. Hill's defense requests that he'll be released to his home in Lisbon, Portugal, pending trial, which is opposed by the US government, not to his sister's basement in Brooklyn, which the US government supports. Hill's defense argues that the prosecution has already generated considerable controversy, referring to an open letter written by Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon in May, criticizing the prosecution's unprecedented and unlawful change in interpretation of the law. Hill's defense

states that Finsen guidance has long made clear that peer-to-peer apps like Samurai do not qualify as money transmitting services. It highlights that the fact that Mr. Hill offered it openly for nine years evidences that they, like the Senators, also thought it was legal. Hill's defense argues that even Google appeared to think the operation of Samurai wallet to be legal. The letter states that Google first offered Samurai wallet, an Android app to Android mobile device users, in its App Store in May 2015. It remained available through April 2024 when Google removed it following Mr. Hill and his codefendants' arrest. Throughout those 9 years, Samurai wallet operated openly and notoriously, and Google made it available to the world's approximately 3.9 billion Android users. Google is known for its robust app review process, which requires app developers to comply with local laws, regulations, and industry standards. The letter states that according to the US government's argumentation, Google would be an unindicted co-conspirator by publicly offering and profiting from

the sale of an app. The government now claims was unambiguously intended to assist individuals engaged in criminal conduct to conceal the source of the proceeds of their criminal activities. Putting the charges in context. The defense states that to stop Bitcoin wallet providers from providing privacy and security services. Or to force them to police their customers as banks must. The government has not sought to change the law or even FinCEN guidance on it. It has prosecuted individuals operating a service they had every reason to believe was legal. And stretched to decorate the charges with decontextualized quotes that attempt to sketch out their agreement to criminal transactions. The government does not allege they knew about in advance or explicitly agreed to. So where does that leave us right that that's really the big question what does this all mean okay so a couple of things I think that um I think the government right like we some it's kind of strange because sometimes we make this assumption that that the government is dumber that we think and and other times we we also credit them with being

incredibly sly, manipulative, uh, calculative, and, uh, sorry, calculating, and um, how could I say this, like to be like architects of like a grand scheme. So, somehow, the government is like incompetent to enough that it can't figure out, but at the same time, it also runs the biggest puppet show. So, or is part of the biggest puppet show. It's like we can't have it both ways, okay, uh, or maybe we can't. I don't know, but I can say this, okay. I could say that essentially, I believe that this, what we're seeing right now, okay, this is just part of the show. I still have this sinking feeling that Samurai was this honey pot, okay, to essentially try to find criminals and, and essentially just be able to monitor them for as long as possible. Uh, I, I don't believe that it had any other use. And, again, I, um, I'm not saying necessarily that both the founders, um, in any way are part of like, you know, some government organization or, or whatever it is. I, I

don't have any evidence to support that um in any way, but what I can say is that essentially right, the people who did facilitate what is determined to be criminal activity through the use of the Samurai World pool product um, they've leaked data to Samurai wallet um. If they didn't set up their own Whirlpool instance right um, and unfortunately now government agencies have access to that data, and whether or not these people are guilty um in the end, this data is now the government's possession. So, I to me, I almost, I genuinely feel like this was the plan all along um. I I can't help but think that way. I I understand that that's like, you know, probably extreme conspiratorial right, because it it it would assume that that was like this grand plan all along, but also at the same time, we could argue that that's something that just simply came about right, where essentially this service, you know, they they started providing their apps and they started providing their services, and and it was going fine, and then all

of a sudden right the government agencies started to take notice of it, and they knew full well that they didn't have a leg to stand on when they arrested um the founders of Samurai wallet right. I I I believe they knew that they didn't have a like to stand on, but it doesn't matter, it makes no difference. Like I think that this is what people don't understand, like when it comes to the legal system, once you're once you're dragged into this show, it doesn't make a difference anymore, that's it, you're in the system, they it's it's like they win anyways. Um, obviously like I'm I'm not saying this is over, this is far from over, um, but look, uh, I I do think that you know this development is good, uh, for the samurai wallet devs. I I do think that they're making strong points. I mean, uh, one of the points that they did make that their lawyers made was essentially um, you know, being able to arrest apple right for every single MacBook user that ever

committed a crime with a MacBook. I mean, this is, again, right? Like, so at this point, so what's going to happen, right? Are we going to start suing the people, like the miners out there who are mining metals that are then these metals are being made into weapons, and these weapons are being used to hurt people? Like, it, this is really, really strange, and in my eyes, it almost seems again by design in order to create these layers of abstraction from personal responsibility. Right, the further and further we abstract these layers from personal responsibility, the more foreign all of this becomes, and the more, I guess, dependent on the state, people feel comfortable with. Anyways, yeah, guys, the Samurai wallet thing, we are going to continue to cover it. I've made a playlist now on our channel so that essentially every single Samurai update that I'm going to do, I'm going to put in there. I also made a Tornado Cash video a really long, long time ago, like when that first happened, right, because the

tornado cash which again tornado cash is a mixing that was different. That was a mixing service, a centralized mixing service, whereas Samurai wallet was, is a collaborative, was a collaborative spend, okay, which is different. Um, but still, but still, it's an attack on privacy any way I look at it. I, I don't really care, you know, like that's an attack on privacy. And you know, to me, that is an attack. An attack on privacy is an attack on personal freedom. So, yeah, got this playlist going to be adding these videos to that guys. That does it for today. Sorry, we don't have our usual, our usual weekly episode, uh, with the guest, but have no fear. Next week, um, we will have our weekly episode. And I've got a very special guest that is going to be explaining to us how essentially Bitcoin fixed voting in his country. Anyways, guys, have a good one. Catch you on the next one. [Music]

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Pleb UnderGround

Update on Samurai Wallet Founders' Arrest

The US government has agreed to release one of the Samurai wallet founders, William Ionian Hill, on bail.

Hill's defense is requesting his release to his home in Lisbon, Portugal, while the US government supports his release to his sister's basement in Brooklyn.

The prosecution's change in interpretation of the law has sparked considerable controversy, leading to criticism from several senators.

The Legality of Samurai Wallet and Google's Involvement

Finsen guidance has long clarified that peer-to-peer apps like Samurai are not considered money transmitting services.

Hill's defense emphasizes that the app was openly offered for nine years, suggesting it was considered legal.

Google's involvement in offering the Samurai wallet raises questions about the government's stance on the app.

The defense argues that the government is prosecuting individuals for operating a service they believed to be legal, without seeking to change the existing laws or guidance.

Suspicions about the True Purpose of Samurai Wallet

The speaker believes that Samurai Wallet was designed as a trap to monitor and catch criminals, possibly in collaboration with government agencies.

Criminals using the Samurai World pool product are thought to have had their data leaked to the government, leading to the suspicion that this was the plan all along.

The speaker acknowledges that their belief may sound conspiratorial, but still feels strongly that this was the true purpose of the wallet.

The Legal Battle of Samurai Wallet Founders

Government agencies arrested the founders of Samurai wallet, despite doubts about the legitimacy of the charges, causing a legal struggle.

The arrest has raised questions about personal responsibility and the legal system, as the Samurai wallet developers continue to make their case.

The situation has sparked ongoing coverage and updates, with a focus on the founders' defense and related legal developments.

The Difference Between Tornado Cash and Samurai Wallet

Tornado Cash is a centralized mixing service, while Samurai Wallet is a collaborative spend, both impacting privacy.

The attack on privacy is seen as an attack on personal freedom, with the next episode set to feature a guest discussing how Bitcoin fixed voting in their country.