What the Samourai Case Means for the Future of BTC Privacy

Seth for Privacy, VP at Cake Wallet, joins us to discuss the ongoing Samurai Wallet legal case and its implications for Bitcoin privacy. Seth explains how the DOJ's prosecution of Samurai developers threatens the entire crypto privacy landscape, despite FinCEN's admission that self-custodial wallets shouldn't be regulated as money services. He breaks down Bitcoin's current privacy limitations, highlighting promising technologies like Silent Payments and Payjoin V2, while candidly addressing why Monero offers superior privacy by design. Are we re-living through the same cryptography battle we fought in the 90s?

Follow our guests: @Sethforprivacy

Notes:

- Samurai indicted April 24, 2024, despite self-custody

- 98% conviction rate in Southern District of NY

- DOJ hid key FinCEN evidence from defense

- Silent Payments gives one reusable static address

- Payjoin V2 coming to Cake Wallet this week

- Bitcoin privacy tools fighting transparent design

Timestamps

00:00 Start

01:04 Samurai wallet legal case

06:30 Jurisdiction & charges

11:59 How significant is this case?

16:28 Arch Network

17:00 Current privacy on BTC

19:47 Silent payments

21:54 Payjoin V2

24:43 Privacy tech limits of BTC

27:42 Privacy soft forks

32:51 Future of oh-chain privacy

37:31 OP_RETURN debate

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