the Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI) announced its launch Peer to Peer Rights Fund, a strategic initiative aimed at protecting the decentralized, peer-to-peer integrity of the Bitcoin ecosystem. The Fund's mission is to defend non-custodial tools and their developers from regulatory abuse, ensuring that innovation, privacy, and user autonomy remain protected.
🚀Announcing the Peer-to-Peer Rights Fund
the mission? Protect the decentralized, peer-to-peer integrity of the Bitcoin ecosystem by defending non-custodial tools and their developers from regulatory abuse.
Learn more and make a tax-deductible donation here:…
– David Zell (@DavidZell_) May 20, 2024
The Peer-to-Peer Rights Fund is dedicated to protecting the decentralized nature of Bitcoin through strategic litigation and advocacy. By supporting pivotal legal issues and providing essential regulatory guidance, the Fund aims to create a fair legal framework that fosters the growth and resilience of the open source Bitcoin community.
BPI explained that Bitcoin's success lies in its peer-to-peer foundation, which sets it apart from other electronic cash attempts, since this decentralized, open-source tool is backed by its users and operates free from the influences of greed, corruption and corruption. Politics or over-regulation. Developers around the world have built non-custodial tools that preserve the core of Bitcoin, including multi-signature wallets, Lightning service providers, and Coinjoin orchestrators, which enhance security, facilitate low-cost transactions, and ensure privacy.
Recently, US regulators have changed their stance, threatening the non-custodial ecosystem by going after open source tool developers and companies like Tornado Cash, Samurai Wallet, Uniswap, and MetaMask. These cases could lead to unfavorable legal precedents, putting the non-custodial Bitcoin ecosystem in the United States at risk, because the government's broad interpretation suggests that anyone who facilitates the transfer of funds should be regulated under the Bank Secrecy Act, regardless of control of the funds. . This could expand the scope of regulation to include many non-custodial Bitcoin instruments, affecting hardware wallet developers, transaction streaming nodes, miners, and collaborative custodial services.
The fund's first project is to defend Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, founders of Samurai Wallet. Rodriguez and Hill face charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and running an unlicensed financial services business.
“The prosecution’s attempt to classify Samourai’s non-custodial coin joiner as a financial services company risks setting a harmful precedent that could impact the entire Bitcoin ecosystem,” said David Zell, co-founder of BPI. “By arguing this case, the Fund aims to ensure the court understands the technology and legal principles at stake, and to seek a positive outcome establishing that non-custodial privacy tools cannot be regulated under the Bank Secrecy Act.”
The outcome of the Rodriguez and Hill case could significantly impact the future of non-custodial Bitcoin instruments and the broader decentralized finance landscape. Through this fund, BPI aims to ensure that innovation within the Bitcoin ecosystem can flourish under a fair and just legal framework, by providing critical resources to defense counsel, sponsoring amicus briefs, and supporting impactful litigation.
For more information or to donate, visit their website here.