Bitcoin privacy tools survive arrests because the code is public. After the FBI arrested the Samurai Wallet team, a fork called Ashigaru recently relaunched Whirlpool, the mixing service regulators tried to shut down.
On Ungovernable Misfits, Pavel argues this is the ultimate act of defiance. If the code is open source, anyone can pick it up. Arresting creators might slow a project, but it doesn’t delete the functionality from the internet. It turns a central point of failure into a game of whack-a-mole the state cannot win.
Pavel, Ungovernable Misfits:
- If the code is public, anyone can pick it up and run it again.
- It turns a central point of failure into a game of whack-a-mole the state cannot win.
Development continues under new constraints. Pavel is finishing a UI update for Ronin Dojo that integrates a tool to analyze how private transactions actually are, replacing the seized kycp.org website. He is also adding Soroban, a peer-to-peer network that routes transactions through random nodes to obfuscate their origin before broadcasting to Bitcoin.
The operational landscape has shifted. Pavel says a key lesson from the Samurai case is to not publicly announce plans, as the team's open discussion of decentralizing Whirlpool likely triggered the swift FBI action. There were no cease-and-desist letters or warnings; the government went straight to handcuffs. Developers now work under a constant mental tax, communicating only via email and relying on public trust built through transparent documentation of code changes.
The movement lacks clear direction post-Samurai, with many users moving to Monero or giving up. But forks like Ashigaru prove the code lives on, defiantly.
