The Bitcoin Way Podcast Imprisoned by the First Amendment with Keonne Rodriguez | Ep. #94
Dec 12, 2025
Keonne Rodriguez, a software developer and co-founder of Samourai Wallet, dives into his battle for financial privacy through innovative Bitcoin tools. He shares insights on the unjust legal challenges he faced, including federal charges and the implications of a plea deal. Keonne discusses the erosion of financial privacy since the Bank Secrecy Act and the importance of non-custodial tools. He urges listeners to advocate for privacy and learn from his experiences, emphasizing Bitcoin must prioritize privacy for true utility.
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Dawn Raid And First Contact With FBI
- Keonne describes being raided at 5 AM by 50 armed FBI agents with guns trained on him and his wife.
- He was processed, detained, fingerprinted, and taken to jail before arraignment where he first learned the charges.
Privacy Layer At The Application Level
- Samurai Wallet was built as a non-custodial wallet to restore cash-like privacy on Bitcoin.
- The goal was to add on-chain confusion so observers cannot deterministically link sender and receiver.
Noncustodial Design Was Central
- Samurai never took custody of user funds and always kept users' private keys.
- Their techniques intentionally polluted the public transaction graph to provide transactional privacy.