Loading summary
Transcript24 lines
- [00:01]
A
Welcome, everyone. This is Gabriel Custode at Watchmen Privacy, and I'm joined right now by Econo Alchemist and Keone Rodriguez. Economo has been excellent at spreading the word about the Samurai Wallet sentencing and the unjustness of that whole situation. And Keoni himself is one of the affected people that is slated to go to prison in 10 days. So I just wanted to have a quick update for people here. Let's start. Econo, kick it to you real quick. There has been a huge groundswell on social media. Maybe you could get people up to speed. What caused that and what are you detecting right now in the, in the Twitterverse and elsewhere?
- [00:40]
B
I think it's just an accumulation of individual voices raising concern and, and putting this information out there.
- [00:51]
Even though a lot of us who were die hard Samurai Wallet supporters through and through. You know, we've been talking about this issue since April 24, 2024. I've been talking about it almost every day on Twitter since that time.
- [01:09]
But even still, it's gone widely unnoticed by the larger bitcoin ecosystem. And, you know, anyone outside the bitcoin ecosystem has probably never heard of this case. So.
- [01:24]
There'S a lot of urgency now that the sentencing has occurred and.
- [01:33]
Keone and Bill have their surrender dates in place.
- [01:37]
You know, we, we at that point, we kind of figured out like that the pardon was the, the last Hail Mary attempt to.
- [01:49]
Do, do justice in this situation. That has been a complete travesty. So, yeah, it started with a very small community of Samurai Wallet supporters. And, you know, little by little and one by one, people started noticing what we were saying and it made them stop and pause. And, you know, maybe they saw it enough times or maybe it was phrased a certain way that, that finally made somebody stop and say, wait, what's going on here? And they dug in a little bit and then they started talking about it. And then that just created this ripple effect that, that kept happening more and more. And finally now seems to me like there's some traction behind this campaign, which, which is very good and overdue and, and I hope the momentum keeps going.
- [02:37]
A
Absolutely. There's a serious crescendo happening here. And I'll tell people, Bill and Keone.
- [02:44]
Is the website. You can please take a look at the petition, sign the petition, explain it to somebody else to sign the petition. And then there's also opportunities to donate there. Just a heads up on the change.org website where you sign the petition, they are asking, they change.org themselves has a little fundraiser they do themselves. Do not pay change.org unless you feel strongly about that particular company. If you want to be donating to Bill and Keoni's families, make sure you are donating on the GiveSend Go website. So do not send money to the change.org website. And if you have, maybe you can ask for a refund. Keone, welcome. I hope you're doing okay. What have been some of the prominent places you've been on so far at this point? It seems like you have a full schedule as well.
- [03:29]
C
Yeah, yeah, thank you. Thank you for having me back on here.
- [03:33]
A
And otherwise. What, what's the been. What is the reception been like for you and your life basically recently?
- [03:39]
C
Yeah, it's been, it's been non stop. You know, I wasn't able to speak for such a long time since the arrest in April 2024. So now I'm actually able to speak and I've been trying to speak whenever I was invited to. So I've been on all sorts of podcasts and Twitter spaces. I was even on a, a tv, you know, a cable TV news program this morning on, on a channel called Real America's Voice on the Scott Gruber Show. So I've just been, I've been everywhere and I'm going to continue to be everywhere that I can be all the way until my surrender date of December 19th. I hope people don't get too sick of me. But after December 19th, you won't be hearing from me at all. So I'm trying to get as much as I can in before that happens.
- [04:34]
A
Absolutely. Econo, what have you perceived or if people who wants to continue to help spread the word, what is the best thing that they can be doing? Maybe some of the things that you've noticed have been working hashtags anything like this?
- [04:47]
B
Yeah, I think first and foremost the primary objective here is to get that pardon from Donald Trump. And in order to do that, Keone and his team have put together a multi pronged strategy to make that happen. And one of those prongs is the petition, the change.org petition. So I think the best thing people can do to help correct this situation and show their support is to go to change.org billandkeone and sign that petition and share that petition online.
- [05:25]
I think the, the hashtags Freeze Samurai and Pardon Samurai are good. I think if you've got anything to say about this situation, just start saying it. If you like what other people are saying about this, share that and broadcast it and repost it. I think it's a good idea to cross post this information on other social media platforms because Twitter can kind of become an echo chamber. And we're trying to get the message out of that echo chamber to reach the goal of 100,000 signatures on that petition, which is we've only got 96,000 left, so there's a lot of work to do.
- [06:08]
A
Right. We should probably give an Update here. There's 4,000 signatures so far in the petition. $8,000 in funds have been raised. So it's just starting and this is just the beginning. And obviously if you have not done either of those, we ask that you do. Quick update, by the way, from Bill, the other co founder of Samurai Wallet. He says that they're doing well and they really appreciate the support. And also he would encourage people who are interested. Check out his substack where he has written in French about his experience in prison in the worst, the worst prison in Western Europe. If you want to track that down, we'll have some links, but you can also go to substack and search for Recluso774. So that's R E C L U S O 7 7, 4. And honestly, that's the, that's the only thing Bill has asked people to do is check out his writing. So hey, why not? Why not check it out? And he says, thank you, Keone. What would be some platforms that you would be ideally liking to get on that maybe people who have connections who are listening could facilitate with? Obviously, probably just some of the biggest ones out there. Right?
- [07:22]
C
Yeah. Yeah. I'm. We're hoping obviously for large platforms so we can get the most, most ears or eyes before we, before I surrender. But I'm not being picky, you know, I'm. If I have a space in my schedule and someone asks me to, to appear, I'm saying yes, because you never know who's listening. And I did a Twitter space the other night that I quite frankly, really didn't want to do. I had, I had had a long day. It was kind of late and I almost didn't do it, but something told me, oh, just, just get on and talk. So I did. And that Twitter space ended up being one of the most special experiences that could have happened. We had Ross Ulbricht of the Silk Road join his first Twitter space just to speak with me. And we talked together for five or 10 minutes. He gave me some advice on prison. He, he gave me his support. And you know, just like many other people said, this is a very unjust prosecution and had I not done that Twitter space, that never would have happened. So, you know, I'm just being open minded and going wherever I'm invited. But obviously we want to be on as large of a platform as we can be to get the most bang for our buck.
- [08:44]
A
Absolutely. So if you have connections or you are a listener of a very large podcast, even things like Joe Rogan, whatever the case may be, and you want them to talk to Keoni. Absolutely. Please make that happen. Please do make that happen. Anybody, as Keoni said, but people even outside of bitcoin in the broader sphere who have very large audiences, that would be the most impactful. Econo, just real quick for people who are maybe tuning in, who aren't quite, you know, don't quite understand the importance of this. Why is it so important to be supporting Keoni and Bill right now and what does this mean?
- [09:23]
B
It's important because the United States government for the first time in history is throwing non custodial software developers in prison for the actions of the end users.
- [09:39]
This is what the government had done to Samurai Wallet was completely unprecedented, came out of left field and it absolutely cannot continue. And it's egregious injustice that needs to be corrected with a pardon. I firmly believe that freedom tech is fundamental to a free society, especially in the digitalized age that we're in now. And if developers are getting punished and sent to prison for developing these tools that are used to protect our God given rights, I think this spells the end of free society as we know it. And I know that may sound hyperbolic, but that's honest to God, what I believe.
- [10:28]
A
We have an opportunity here. If you're within the bitcoin community, you have an opportunity. Opportunity to really be heard and really make something happen. And that is to get Bill and Keoni pardoned. And just give you the final thoughts here, Keoni. People have their, you know, their marching orders. Absolutely. Share everything you can engage. Try to get the attention, please do try to get the attention of people who have platforms who could have Keoni on it. Just to get a final few thoughts from you, Keone.
- [10:56]
C
Yeah, I guess all I'll say is that Econo hit the nail on the head, said it better than I could have. This is a really important case that has deep ramifications for bitcoin and crypto in general and software developers in general. So this is something that does affect everyone and is a real threat to privacy and sovereignty. Probably the biggest threat we've faced thus far. So you know, it does matter. So if you don't really know what's going on. Please listen to one of the many interviews I've given or listen follow Econo, who lays it all out and get with it. Other than that, all I have to say is just thank you. You, Gabriel. Thank you, Econo and everyone else who's just been amazing and getting the ball rolling on this.
- [11:53]
A
This is definitely, as I said, crescendoing. There's a lot of attention here. This is a big topic on Twitter right now. So keep it going. Absolutely. Keep it going. That would be a total waste not to be tweeting as often as you can, engaging with people, replying, tagging people. Okay, Tag all the people that you want to see interview Keone. Definitely. Check out the interviews that Econo has done with Keoni. I've done with one with him. That's our last episode and with that we'll say billandkeone.org please check that out and we will see you later.