Samourai Arrested: Ian Quits His Fiat Job
block #842118
synopsis
Ian is furious about the arrest of the Samourai Wallet founders and the voluntary withdrawal of Wasabi Wallet from the US. The episode becomes a passionate treatise on government overreach, the criminalization of privacy, money laundering as a "made up crime," and why Bitcoin renders the government's financial control mechanisms obsolete. Ian also announces he quit his job and is building something on Nostr.
quotes
"The government is trying to criminalize privacy." — Ian
"These octogenarians can't even read email. They have staffers that they criminally underpay to read emails for them, to print them out on cardboard." — Ian
"The Bitcoin network is not yours. Back off." — Ian
"Unless you're willing to come inflict physical violence on me, what is your plan? And I don't think they have one." — Ian
"They only understand force, intimidation, and mafioso tactics to scare people into behaving a certain way. Because that's really the only lever they have to pull is fear." — Ian
"Y'all done fucked up." — Ian on the prosecution kicking the engineering hornet's nest
"It's going to be orange versus green." — Ian on the future political divide
"I'm fucking sick of it." — Ian (notably uncensored)
topics
Samourai Wallet founders arrested for "money laundering" and operating a "money transmitting business"Wasabi Wallet voluntarily leaving the USChain Analysis and its probabilistic coin trackingThe Napster → BitTorrent analogy for why shutting down Samourai won't workGovernment "schizophrenia" — Bitcoin isn't money but they tax it and project revenue from itExit tax on Bitcoin when renouncing US citizenshipIan quitting his fiat job — working in financial services while being a Bitcoiner was "mentally draining"Building a secret project on NostrThe government's only lever against Bitcoiners is fear