Max Tannahill open-sources Dojo Bay after node seizures

Federal law enforcement dismantled central servers and crippled privacy wallet backends overnight.

When law enforcement seized Samourai Wallet's central infrastructure, thousands of mobile users lost balance tracking and transaction access. Developer Max Tannahill responded by open-sourcing Dojo Bay, a directory connecting wallets to independent, volunteer-run Bitcoin nodes across global jurisdictions. On Ungovernable Misfits on September 5, 2026, Tannahill explained how running backends across Mexico, Spain, and the UK eliminates single enforcement targets.

Connecting mobile wallets to public backends usually introduces serious privacy leaks. Querying an untrusted server exposes extended public keys, allowing node operators to map a user's entire financial history. Tannahill re-architected Dojo Bay to enforce cryptographic verification on every listed server using Bit47 payment codes.

Node operators must digitally sign their pairing credentials before entering the directory. Users verify the pairing code on screen, causing any host tampering to invalidate the check immediately. Administrative access uses Auth47 challenges, cutting out central databases, cloud hosts, and corporate credentials entirely.

Tannahill designed the directory toolset to be fully mirrorable over Tor onion routing. Users can clone the entire source repository directly from active nodes with a single terminal command, preventing domain seizures from taking down the index.

Integrating these signed directories into mobile wallets like Sentinel enables automated backend switching. Wallets can poll verified registries directly, bypassing dead servers without requiring manual reconfigurations.

Centralized backends failed under state pressure. Cryptographic public mesh networks replaced them.