Samourai Wallet seized by the feds

[BlackHatCoiner]

Samourai Wallet has been taken down by the U.S. authorities: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/founders-and-ceo-cryptocurrency-mixing-service-arrested-and-charged-money-laundering. You can verify by opening samouraiwallet.com (it's under the authorities' control).

Another privacy enhancing tool goes down the road. Apparently, the governments use everything in their disposal to undermine the users' privacy. Samourai team had recently announced that they were developing a decentralized version of whirlpool, using the Soroban network. It could be the case that they foresaw their own disappearance.

Very frustrated. An important reminder and good quote is needed here.

>You will not find a solution to political problems in cryptography.

Yes, but we can win a major battle in the arms race and gain a new territory of freedom for several years.

Governments are good at cutting off the heads of a centrally controlled networks like Napster, but pure P2P networks like Gnutella and Tor seem to be holding their own.

R.I.P. Samourai.

[alani123]

Petter Todd gave a 50% chance Samurai Wallet was run by feds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPNFdhZUGmk

I guess the chance is now 100%

RIP indeed, I hope the tech continues being used via open source anon development though

[Charles-Tim]

If there is conjoin campaigs on this forum, theymos could have been planning to ban the conjoin campaigns. But not necessary because there is no conjoin campaign on this forum anymore.

It is possible that Sparrow will be the next target. Only what the government will look for is allegation.

[apogio]

So my question is, since the feds control the website, is there a way to control the software that has already been downloaded to users' computers? I guess not.

So, I reckon that the whirlpool servers will go down. I also believe that there will be no more support for the products (samourai & sentinel).

Is there anything else I am missing?

It is possible that Sparrow will be the next target.

Ouch! That would hurt.

[Upgrade00]

"IRS-CI Special Agent in Charge Thomas Fattorusso said: “$2 billion in transactions with an unlicensed money transmitter means $2 billion flowed without any oversight, from whomever to wherever.  Because of the company’s disregard for regulation, it’s alleged that Samourai Wallet laundered more than $100 million in criminal proceeds"

Transactions are not unlawful cause you cannot trace the flow of the transaction. The $2 bliiion seems to have just been thrown in there for shock value, giving them a justification to clamp down on the service.

Cash pretty much allows anyone to transact without regulation or oversight, and way more than $100 million have been used in criminal transactions using it.

[BlackHatCoiner]

I guess the chance is now 100%

Now that it's been seized by the authorities, I think we can all agree it was never a US honeypot.

It is possible that Sparrow will be the next target.

The answer to this question depends on the roadmap of Sparrow. Will they write code that decentralizes Whirlpool, or will they completely remove it as an option? We'll see.

So my question is, since the feds control the website, is there a way to control the software that has already been downloaded to users' computers? I guess not.

No, but users who weren't running their own full node but using Samourai as wallet, will probably have to migrate to another wallet software, because Samourai servers are down.

I'm now getting this message in Sparrow:

[Charles-Tim]

"IRS-CI Special Agent in Charge Thomas Fattorusso said: “$2 billion in transactions with an unlicensed money transmitter means $2 billion flowed without any oversight, from whomever to wherever.  Because of the company’s disregard for regulation, it’s alleged that Samourai Wallet laundered more than $100 million in criminal proceeds"

Transactions are not unlawful cause you cannot trace the flow of the transaction. The $2 bliiion seems to have just been thrown in there for shock value, giving them a justification to clamp down on the service.

But they were greedy to clamp down Binance which was alleged for money laundering, bank fraud, sanctions violation and others. Binance paid 4 billion and still existing. Most money received through illegal activities are in their banks that their central bank being the head.

[Z-tight]

But they were greedy to clamp down Binance which was alleged for money laundering, bank fraud, sanctions violation and others. Binance paid 4 billion and still existing.

Binance pleaded guilty to all of the charges that was filed against them, the same as their former ceo CZ who also pleaded guilty. So i reckon that in their own case they knew they were doing so many things wrong.

R.I.P. Samourai.

Too bad that another privacy solution has been brought down, the U.S. government want to make it very difficult for people to use Bitcoin without exposing data that they can be tracked with. It is sad, but the fight for privacy is looking like a fight that we cannot win.

[BitMaxz]

If there is conjoin campaigs on this forum, theymos could have been planning to ban the conjoin campaigns. But not necessary because there is no conjoin campaign on this forum anymore.

It is possible that Sparrow will be the next target.

It could possibly be the next target to be seized by the government and other wallets with the same feature.
The only wallets that I know with the same feature that are currently not being seized by the government are Sparrow and Wasabi.

It seems the government wants to seize all services that have this feature and no more privacy.

[Slow death]

years ago when I saw that casinos were asking for kyc, when I saw that exchanges were also asking for kyc and started deanonymizing altcoins, when I saw that governments were seizing mixers, then I said it was a matter of a few years to governments target wallets too. I believe that in the future governments will not allow wallets to add or allow people to hold anonymity coins and that people will not kyc wallets and that wallets will operate without a license. This is because the governments' idea is that the same rules and laws that are applied to all financial services in the real world should also be applied to financial services on the internet.

For many governments, they no longer want the internet to be a different world from the real world in which the laws and rules of the real world do not apply in the internet world. we just need to see that governments are regulating social networks. Nowadays, speaking badly about someone on social media is punished as if you had spoken badly about them in the real world. privacy on the internet is ending at the speed of light, whoever wants to survive on the internet will have to accept the rules and laws of governments

[Sandra_hakeem]

But they were greedy to clamp down Binance which was alleged for money laundering, bank fraud, sanctions violation and others. Binance paid 4 billion and still existing. Most money received through illegal activities are in their banks that their central bank being the head.

...and what does that tell you? These people only care about their pockets and if they ever get a chance to forfeit already enacted laws, it'll definitely be for the highest bidder.... Sentiments!! Bloody sentiments!! FFS!!! Decentralization is gone!!

So, I reckon that the whirlpool servers will go down. I also believe that there will be no more support for the products (samourai & sentinel).

Yes!

Another privacy enhancing tool goes down the road. Apparently, the governments use everything in their disposal to undermine the users' privacy. Samourai team

it's clear that all they want isn't just the control per se ... If they wanna use these platforms to generate extra revenues for their greedy pockets, then why not go into a dialogue?
Edit: This whole drama won't go down well for alot of bitcoiners - you'll either be paying VAT on every transaction aside the TF, or facing detention for as long as they want.

[Mrbluntzy]

Sorry friends and @BlackHatCoiner but I have a question, I see that the US government have brought down a few Bitcoin mixers and some platforms too that support Bitcoins privacy for user but my question is, does it mean that the US government can shot down any sit or platform that they want even if that site or platform is not operated or was  not designed and managed by a US citizen?

Take for example, if Samourai Wallet was being designed by a black man somewhere in Africa and the platform was open to be used by anybody around the world (across other countries), can the government still shot it down?

If they can not, then it can be a means for SamouraiWallet to relocate their company to a country where they can operate freely but should restrict American citizens from using their service.  I don't know if this makes any sense, but it's just my suggestion.

[Davidvictorson]

Sorry friends and @BlackHatCoiner but I have a question, I see that the US government have brought down a few Bitcoin mixers and some platforms too that support Bitcoins privacy for user but my question is, does it mean that the US government can shot down any sit or platform that they want even if that site or platform is not operated or was  not designed and managed by a US citizen?

They do not work alone. They work with other international agencies to do it. For example, in 2019, the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) which is almost like the Feds in the US shut down a mixer. It is a collaborative effort.

Take for example, if Samourai Wallet was being designed by a black man somewhere in Africa and the platform was open to be used by anybody around the world (across other countries), can the government still shot it down?

No matter who you are and where you are, they can get you and shut down whatever platform you have running without apologies.

[logfiles]

Take for example, if Samourai Wallet was being designed by a black man somewhere in Africa and the platform was open to be used by anybody around the world (across other countries), can the government still shot it down?

They can shut it down so long as they believe the platform is being used by the criminals they hate the most, such as those North Korean hackers, to "launder" money through it. it doesn't matter where the platform was created from or who created it. They will work so hard to sanction it and then probably seize it.
Centralized platforms where the developers are not even anornymous are so prone to such a thing.

[OgNasty]

Are we understanding why privacy needs to be implemented at the protocol level yet?

I don’t know how Samourai Wallet worked but my understanding from what I’m reading is that there is potentially up to 700 million dollars now under Fed control as a result of this? Are the users the ones who have had their funds confiscated? If so, is there any hope for recovery?

[Kruw]

Are we understanding why privacy needs to be implemented at the protocol level yet?

I don’t know how Samourai Wallet worked but my understanding from what I’m reading is that there is potentially up to 700 million dollars now under Fed control as a result of this? Are the users the ones who have had their funds confiscated? If so, is there any hope for recovery?

Coinjoins aren't custodial, so there's no funds they can seize. The Feds are only able to access the data of Samourai's users since their wallet was designed to collect xpub addresses and IP addresses by default.

[anoawarbeg]

Is there another wallet that would support whirlpool transactions from samurai? I was in the process of using whirlpool but it's not possible to connect to it anymore. It just provides an error. How would I continue with my conjoin or worst case, withdraw my funds?

EDIT:

Managed to withdraw my funds from whirlpool. You'll have to use Sparrow wallet and import your seed + passphrase.

[OgNasty]

Are we understanding why privacy needs to be implemented at the protocol level yet?

I don’t know how Samourai Wallet worked but my understanding from what I’m reading is that there is potentially up to 700 million dollars now under Fed control as a result of this? Are the users the ones who have had their funds confiscated? If so, is there any hope for recovery?

Coinjoins aren't custodial, so there's no funds they can seize. The Feds are only able to access the data of Samourai's users since their wallet was designed to collect xpub addresses and IP addresses by default.

Samourai Wallet had something called Whirlpool with nearly 700 million dollars in it. This is now shut down and under the control of the feds from what I’m reading. This is what I was referencing. Again, I’m not sure how it all works so maybe I’m just misunderstanding your explanation, but there are definitely funds that have been seized or frozen in some fashion so I would assume some part of it is custodial or based on web contracts or something. I give you exhibit A of this below:

Is there another wallet that would support whirlpool transactions from samurai? I was in the process of using whirlpool but it's not possible to connect to it anymore. It just provides an error. How would I continue with my conjoin or worst case, withdraw my funds?

[Kruw]

Samourai Wallet had something called Whirlpool with nearly 700 million dollars in it. This is now shut down and under the control of the feds. This is what I was referencing.

I'm fully aware. The coins "in" Whirlpool are self custodied by Samourai's users. Their data, however, is now controlled by the Feds,

Again, I’m not sure how it all works, but there are definitely funds that have been seized or frozen in some fashion. I give you exhibit A of this below:

Is there another wallet that would support whirlpool transactions from samurai? I was in the process of using whirlpool but it's not possible to connect to it anymore. It just provides an error. How would I continue with my conjoin or worst case, withdraw my funds?

The funds aren't seized, he can just spend his Bitcoins:

EDIT:

Managed to withdraw my funds from whirlpool. You'll have to use Sparrow wallet and import your seed + passphrase.

[joker_josue]

Well, it's a fact that this kind of news is never good for the community. And it is regrettable that we are reaching this type of situation that the authorities have been promoting.

But we also have to note that they were the ones who put themselves in the sights of the authorities:


They invited Russians who were being penalized by the authorities because of the war to use their services to evade the sanctions. Without a doubt, it was a matter of time before the authorities caught up.