Samourai Wallet founders’ arrests are ‘a wake up call for crypto’ — Bitcoin pioneer Amir Taaki opines

Amir
Taaki,
an
anarchist
revolutionary,
hacktivist,
and
programmer
known
in
the
crypto
space
as
one
the
first
Bitcoin
core
developers,
has
spoken
out
on
the
Samourai
Wallet
indictment.

In
a

recent
blog
post,
Taaki
urged
the
crypto
community
to
“step
up”
its
game
in
the
face
of
heightened
state-sanctioned
regulation
and
governmental
oversight.
Taaki
regards
the

arrest
of
the
Samourai
Wallet
devs
as
a
“wake
up
call
for
crypto”
to
pursue
better
methods
for
anonymity
and
privacy.

“Being
prepared
to
resist
the
surveillance
megamachine
means
forming
a
completely
dark
ecosystem
where
operators
are
able
to
mobilize
under
protected
cover,”
Taaki
said.

When
the
Bitcoin
blockchain
was
starting
to
gain
traction
sometime
in
2011,
Taaki
was
among
the
first
few
dedicated
developers.
He
was
also
responsible
for

crafting
the
Bitcoin
Improvement
Proposal
(BIP)
purpose
and
guidelines,
as
well
as
the
first
ever
BIP
that
launched
the
proposal
cycles.
This
initial
proposal
was
later
revised
and
improved
by

Luke
Dashjr,
another
prominent
Bitcoin
core
developer
at
the
time.

Taaki
argued
that
governments
worldwide
are
intensifying
efforts
to
regulate
anonymous
transactions,
ostensibly
to
combat
illegal
and
“criminal”
activities.
However,
he
believes
that
these
measures
suppress
innovation
and
curtail
individual
freedoms.

“The
action
against
Samourai
devs
(who
are
ideological
agorists)
reveals
that
the
state
is
moving
in
on
anybody
who
challenges
the
status
quo,”
Taaki
stated.

Agorism
is
a
philosophical
and
political
position
associated
with
the
darknet
movement,
initially
developed
by
Canadian-American
libertarian
philosopher
Samuel
Edward
Konkin
III
(aka
SEK3).
The
term
is
derived
from
the
Greek
word
“agora”
which
refers
to
an
open
marketplace
where
people
gather
to
trade
and
share
opinions.

A
philosophical
journal
called

Agorist
launched
in
2022
espouses
and
attempts
to
expound
on
these
ideological
positions.
The
journal
is
supported
by
a
group
of
crypto
figures
such
as
Kevin
Owocki
(founder
of
Gitcoin),
Cody
Wilson
(activist,
co-founder
of
Dark
Wallet),
and
controversial
contemporary
philosopher
Nick
Land.

It
is
not
clear
whether
Taaki
is
a
supporter
of
the
crypto-oriented
philosophical
journal,
although
his
most
recent
initiative,
Darkfi,
appears
to
align
with
the
aims
of
the
agorist
movement.
Darkfi
is
an
anonymous
platform
for
collaborative
fundraising
and
distribution,
directly
aimed
at
challenging
existing
regulatory
frameworks
to
advocate
for
freedom
through
blockchain
technology.

In
2013,
Taaki
was
also
closely
associated
with
Ethereum
co-founder

Vitalik
Buterin,
through
a
Calafou-based
organization
called
unSystem.
Alongside
Cody
Wilson,
Taaki
co-founded
Dark
Wallet,
one
of
the
first
privacy
and
anonymity-focused
crypto
wallets
at
the
time.

According
to
Taaki,
the
arrests
of
the
Samourai
Wallet
founders
happened
because
the
founders
were
“doxxed
teams
essentially,”
meaning
that
their
identities
were
revealed
through
centralized
RPCs
(remote
procedure
call).

This
status,
as
opposed
to
the
Darkfi
project,
opened
a
loose
end
for
the
Samourai
Wallet
devs.
Taaki
said
that
Darkfi
is
approaching
mainnet
launch
this
year,
and
is
currently
preparing
to
release
a
final
testnet.

“We
are
ready.
We
are
well
prepared.
Nobody
can
stop
us.
We’ve
been
laying
down
roots
for
years,”
Taaki
said.