I view this with concern. As a crypto enthusiast, a believer in the cypherpunk philosophy, Bitcoin and now Zcash, I think this should give us all pause for thought.
Are we in danger? Not only our data and privacy are at risk, but our funds or our freedom!
Should we fear that some government wants to ‘shut down’ Zcash?
What to do, how to protect ourselves, and are all the efforts we know are being made by the ECC sufficient to meet the whims of certain power groups?
Without being alarmist or falling into end-of-the-world conspiracy theories, I certainly think this is a HUGE issue.
I would like to read the impressions of the global Zcash community.
There needs to be a mindset to hold the ground. In Zcash we trust, free from approval or disapproval of any person.
It wouldn’t surprise me if State actors, Crown Agents and Black Nobility are interested in Zcash for their own private activites - in which case it receives special dispensation.
It would sure bode well for the project to have mass indifference to State FUD alongside sound lobbying efforts and perpetual decentralization - building an ecology for the world we deserve.
Person
The term “person” shall be construed to mean and include an individual, a trust, estate, partnership, association, company or corporation. -26 USC 7701
Preface: I’m not a lawyer and I have no idea what I’m talking about
I’ve been reading articles diving into this whole Samourai thing and thought a few points made were interesting. One being that the software/mixer/protocol itself isn’t necessarily what the DOJ is going after them for. From the press release:
are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
The key word in both charges being “conspiracy”. The DOJ press release also highlights tweets/messages where they allegedly endorsed/marketed to bad actors.
Another interesting article:
In my amateur reading of it, it seems like the fact that they released code and a wallet isn’t what they are being charged for: it’s that they allegedly marketed to and allegedly knew that the service was being used by bad actors and they allegedly planned to or did profit off the service by taking fees.
My personal perspective on it:
I don’t think that same kind of argument could be made against Zcash whos community (including myself) have been known to discourage illicit use of Zcash. Plus the Zcash founders and core teams have actively worked to educate law enforcement and DC regulators about how Zcash works and added features that allow users to comply with AML/CFT regulations.
a sign that the issue of privacy is starting to be more publicized, those who are truly rich will prefer greater privacy, something that Bitcoin does not provide, the best thing is to use confusing devices, but apparently this artifice is not well regarded by the government and little by little privacy will start to be talked about more.
Zcash is ahead of its time, people will still understand the importance of privacy, Zcash will still have its moment in the sun, a private and legal cryptocurrency. I see this news about the samourai wallet with a certain fear, but it is the principle of everything, the government will be against this privacy, but Zcash has a great chance of coming through this as victorious.
the more subjects and themes involving privacy, the better it will be for Zcash. We have everything to work out, we can be private, but at the same time be transparent. I have nothing to hide, the government can know what my portfolio is, it can know how much I have, but privacy is a right that I want to exercise. I trust Zcash, I feel safe with Zcash, I’m not afraid of the government, my fear is people’s evil. Personally, in my life, only one person knew that I bought Zcash, my own family doesn’t know and they think I’m trading on the stock market. After I started buying Zcash I learned to talk less, I learned to have greater security on the computer, I learned to be more discreet and I no longer talk about what I do in the financial world. I declare my investments to the government, I’m not hiding anything, even more so the day I make some profit with Zcash I will pay income tax. I’m at peace, but I hope the world has more privacy-related moments to increase Zcash’s visibility.
I’m waiting and watching. Hopefully the government has more than we’re aware like some messages or something eg
“Hi, I’m a sanctioned cyber-criminal who needs to obfuscate some funds. Can you help me?”
“Of course! That’s why we run this service! I’ll show you how!”
If a service is used for illegal purposes and the people who run it know that and actively promote that use, and do nothing to stop it, it’s a lot different than a service that provides privacy, is designed not to be used for illicit purposes, with people who run the service actively discouraging illict use and diligently working to prevent it.
The purpose of the system is what it does. If no one is using Zcash to hide illegal activity, then I don’t think people associated with it will be persecuted just because it provides private transactions. Privacy is normal and is a human right. If we continue to grow a positive community, work with regulators, comply, etc, I hope that there is nothing to worry about.
that the whole point of regulation they need to protect the fiat surveillance system its their bread and butter
the faster people here know this the better
or enjoy surveillance CBDC for everyone
and total privacy for the STATE
I mean, I guess I’m not surprised? Wake up yall.