Federal Prison for Writing Code

#1

Post by manithree » Mon, Dec 22, 2025, 3:09 PM UTC

Federal Prison for Writing Code
reason.com

Re: Federal Prison for Writing Code

#2

Post by manithree » Mon, Dec 22, 2025, 3:09 PM UTC

Samourai wallet has been on HN several times, but this interview with the creator just before he goes to prison for writing open source code is very interesting.

Re: Federal Prison for Writing Code

#3

Post by rawgabbit » Mon, Dec 22, 2025, 3:27 PM UTC

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/founders-samourai-walle...

The government claims he knowingly promoted his software to launder dirty bitcoin.

Re: Federal Prison for Writing Code

#4

Post by manithree » Mon, Dec 22, 2025, 3:40 PM UTC

rawgabbit wrote: post #3

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/founders-samourai-walle... The government claims he knowingly promoted his software to launder dirty bitcoin.

Which is debatable, but not illegal. SCOTUS has said so multiple times.

Re: Federal Prison for Writing Code

#5

Post by rawgabbit » Mon, Dec 22, 2025, 8:26 PM UTC

manithree wrote: post #4

rawgabbit wrote: post #3

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/founders-samourai-walle... The government claims he knowingly promoted his software to launder dirty bitcoin.

Which is debatable, but not illegal. SCOTUS has said so multiple times.

It would be interesting if this case goes to the Supreme Court.

Re: Federal Prison for Writing Code

#6

Post by ydlr » Tue, Dec 23, 2025, 2:44 AM UTC

I'm a little confused. Was this code he released that allowed others to run a mixing service, or was it a mixing service ran by this guy, or is it some kind of distributed mixing service that cannot be controlled by anyone?