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The Rage is an independent publication covering financial surveillance. Privacy is not a crime.

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Last Notes

2026-07-08 12:38:45 CEST

🚨NEW: FRENCH FINANCE MINISTRY SUED OVER GLOBAL SURVEILLANCE DATABASE
The bitcoin exchange Bull Bitcoin is suing the French finance ministry over its implementation of a crypto asset reporting framework that establishes a global surveillance database of cryptocurrency transactions.
Full story: https://www.therage.co/french-finance-ministry-sued-over-global-surveillance-database/

2026-06-17 21:24:25 CEST

🚨SCOOP: THE FED IS WORKING ON A CBDC
Despite an Executive Order banning the development of a wholesale CBDC, the US Federal Reserve is contributing to the Bank for International Settlement's CBDC project.
🔗 Full story by @nprofile…denc
https://www.therage.co/the-fed-is-working-on-a-cbdc/

2026-06-17 00:35:02 CEST

🚨NEW IN TORNADO CASH: DATES SET FOR STORM RETRIAL
The Court has approved the Government's pretrial schedule, confirming that SDNY will be retrying Roman Storm on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit sanctions evasion this fall.
The Court is yet to rule on Storm's post-trial Rule 29 motion, which challenges the validity of evidence and theories presented against him, and could exonerate Storm of the unlicensed money transmission conviction handed down last August.
A ruling favorable to Storm in post-trial motions could continue to prevent the retrial from taking place.
https://blossom.primal.net/ed41bbbd5bdc9e80479fd4121153767b16854c514eb8bbeda48bc4a18d8ebe98.jpg

2026-05-26 20:49:31 CEST

🚨NEW: MINED IN AMERICA ACT WOULD PUT BITCOIN NETWORK AT RISK
The Mined in America Act would distort the overall economic incentives of the Bitcoin network and capture U.S. based miners in a situation where dependence on associated loan or grant programs makes it economically non-viable for them to deny government demands.
Effectively, the bill would turn miners into their own surveillance teams, collecting and reporting information to the government in exchange for economic favoritism.
🔗 Full story: https://www.therage.co/mined-in-america-act-bitcoin-at-risk/

2026-05-15 21:02:43 CEST

💥NEW: 'PRO LAW ENFORCEMENT BILL' CLARITY PASSED OUT OF COMMITTEE
Feelings are mixed as U.S. Senate Banking Committee passes landmark cryptocurrency regulation while tension over core components remain.
🔗Full story: https://www.therage.co/clarity-act-senate-banking/

2026-05-14 18:34:33 CEST

🚨NOW: Sen Warren says Tornado Cash was used to launder 7B Dollars in cryptocurrency.
This is incorrect. Tornado Cash processed 7B USD in total, of which 85% were found to have been of licit origin.
https://blossom.primal.net/70d10028b2e4b86474e8be453f5d4811900c0f744e9fb3450a9e58ca6bc4c47b.mp4

2026-05-12 19:34:27 CEST

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💪

2026-05-12 16:15:31 CEST

At the appeal hearing for Roman Sterlingov, who was convicted of operating the bitcoin mixer Bitcoin Fog, circuit judges are repeating the same argumentation brought by SDNY against Roman Storm:
"Every payment [to Bitcoin Fog] is part of advancing the conspiracy because it increases the size of the pool of bitcoin funds that are shuffling around and obscuring identities.“
The defense argues that mixers are legal, to which the judge counters: yes, but not Bitcoin Fog.
More updates soon.
https://blossom.primal.net/27c081ab601d3dfcd0ded3d7878ef94fe12387f0da84b83a5754ad3c770dd3cb.jpg

2026-04-28 18:12:27 CEST

🚨NEW: THE PEOPLE AND THE MACHINE
Last year, Roman Sterlingov was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison for allegedly operating the early bitcoin mixer Bitcoin Fog.
For the first time, he now speaks out on the abuse he has experienced in the US Justice system, and what it means to lose your privacy – both for those incarcerated, and for everyone else in society.
Read Roman Sterlingov’s full guest post here: https://www.therage.co/the-people-and-the-machine/

2026-04-10 00:48:40 CEST

🚨 NEW: NO ACQUITTAL FOR STORM TODAY
Will Roman Storm be freed? After a much anticipated hearing on the Tornado Cash developer’s motion for acquittal, we still don’t know.
Judge Failla again appeared to treat the raised constitutional issues stepmotherly – but did still not seem convinced whether SDNY had proven to have jurisdiction over Storm’s case.
Meanwhile, the prosecution appeared to continue to struggle to lay out how Tornado Cash actually works.
Full story: https://www.therage.co/roman-storm-acquittal-2/

2026-03-31 21:21:46 CEST

🇺🇲🇵🇸 US WEAPONIZES GLOBAL FINANCIAL SYSTEM AGAINST PALESTINIAN ADVOCACY, POLICY GROUP SAYS
The Palestinian Policy Network Al-Shabaka has laid out how the United States leverages the global financial system against Palestinian advocacy in its latest policy paper.
Citing an Executive Order enacted last year that allows the US Treasury to act against anyone "assisting" the International Criminal Court, Al-Shabaka argues that overcompliance in the financial services industry has led to blocking of assets and financial transactions, debanking, as well as total funding bans for even tangentially related groups.
"Most international transactions clear through US-linked banks and financial institutions," Al-Shabaka writes, allowing for sanctions issued by the US to reverberate far beyond US borders.
"Washington’s dominance over the global financial system gives this censorship regime its devastating reach."
https://al-shabaka.org/briefs/us-sanctions-criminalizing-palestinian-and-global-justice-work/

2026-03-30 17:16:31 CEST

2026-03-28 16:37:41 CET

🚨 GERMAN BANKS SEIZE ACCOUNTS OF JOURNALISTS WIFE
The bank accounts of German journalist Hüseyin Dogru's wife have been seized, putting his family at risk of homelessness.
Dogru was sanctioned by the EU for reporting on Palestinian resistance movements in 2024. His wife's accounts have now been seized under the argument that Dogru may be able to control the accounts.
"Every time my case gets media attention, German authorities impose more repressive measures – Not only against me, but against my family," Dogru writes on X.
"They knowingly put my children’s lives in danger. I am calling on the international community for support — not for me, but for my children."
Last week, German courts denied an easing of restrictions on Dogru's bank accounts after he appealed to authorities to fulfill his basic needs.
https://blossom.primal.net/f27874b284756190abcc74b5773562a8dc8b61626a7a8a8af99d57c48646f72d.png

2026-03-25 20:39:07 CET

🚨 JUST IN: Texas Court Dismisses Lawsuit against Pam Bondi over Non-Custodial Software Prosecutions
A Texas Court has dismissed a lawsuit by cryptocurrency developer Michael Lewellen filed against Attorney General Pam Bondi, in which he alleged that criminal cases brought against non-custodial privacy software developers kept him from freely publishing his own privacy software.
The court has now dismissed the case, arguing that Lewellen faces no credible threat of prosecution because:
>He says his software is only software
>He disclaims knowingly transmitting illegal proceeds
>Deputy AG Todd Blanche issued a April 2025 memo promising to no longer prosecute developers of software
The Texas ruling fails to acknowledge that the US Government continued to prosecute both the developers of Samourai Wallet as well as Roman Storm of Tornado Cash with the Blanche memo in place, directly affecting Lewellen's claim.
Link to the full ruling: https://www.coincenter.org/app/uploads/2026/03/41_Lewellen_re_MTD_3-25-2026.pdf
https://blossom.primal.net/054a25b095b0c1ffa6a166b994b2a43d30e27f4467fd07894a8e2e3712515b99.png

2026-03-18 18:49:16 CET

🇺🇸 Numerous accounts are amplifying talks from the Digital Chamber's DC Blockchain Summit, in which Congresspeople promise to get the CLARITY Act across the line between end of the week and end of the year.
While largely sold as a positive to the industry, the latest market structure draft has proven to tow a dangerous line that could enable increased surveillance and the effective criminalization of privacy.
With stablecoin yield as the number one point of discussion, the cryptocurrency industry will likely have to make concessions in its protections of DeFi for CLARITY to have a chance of passing the Democrats, who continue to view illicit finance a red line.
Several stand-alone bills have since been introduced in Congress to protect developers, such as the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act and the Promoting Innovation in Blockchain Development Act, which offer safer pathways to safeguard development.

2026-03-02 15:18:39 CET

🔴The Trump administration appears to be illegally leveraging tax authorities to obtain the home addresses of immigrants, according to the Washington Post.
A federal judge has found that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) violated federal law “approximately 42,695 times” when it shared confidential taxpayer addresses with immigration enforcement officials last summer, as WaPo reports.
By federal law, the IRS may only provide the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with tax records if the agency first identifies a person's address correctly.
Instead, the DHS appears to have used the information sharing agreement to obtain addresses from the IRS, with address fields left blank or filled out incompletely.
The incident marks yet another escalation in the use of financial infrastructure to achieve political ends.
DHS officials have defended the data-sharing agreement as necessary to crack down on illegal immigration.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/02/26/irs-data-federal-judge-dhs-illegal/

2026-02-25 17:20:23 CET

🔴The Trump administration is considering an Executive Order that would require banks to collect citizenship information on customers, per the Wall Street Journal.
As such, the proposed Executive Order would deputize banks to function as defacto policing agencies to crack down on illegal immigration.
The Treasury is already pressuring banks to identify illegal immigrants and considering the potential re-underwriting of customers, as stated by Secretary Scott Bessent earlier this month.
https://blossom.primal.net/921c56d2c9e2486c31ea009cb802b01ff4dd9fde9adb47e09f41beb0f7b3eec0.jpg

2026-02-25 12:11:35 CET

🔴A former Revolut employee has reportedly attempted to extort customers by threatening to leak their personal KYC data unless a ransom was paid.
The extortion attempt appears to have been targeted at a pseudonymous X account with over 650,000 followers.
Revolut has reportedly stated that no systems have been breached, and that the case is under investigation.
The case highlights yet another risk of identity verification beyond security breaches and leaks, in which internal rogue actors obtain access to individual's sensitive information.
As KYC laws are set to be expanded beyond the financial realm to ID social media users, the extortion of high-value pseudonymous individuals will likely grow into a lucrative business for criminals.
https://blossom.primal.net/f7b4047653c03ea0625a5326aace490289e1bcbb38aafbf6b58e7806a4f822bf.jpg

2026-02-21 22:58:54 CET

🚨The DOJ has quietly deleted over 2,000 documents on former MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito.
The collection originally featured over 10,000 documents on Ito, which is now down to ~8,000. Ito resigned from MIT in 2019 for accepting donations from Jeffrey Epstein, but their relationship appears to have gone much deeper than previously disclosed.
According to his LinkedIn, Ito currently serves as President of the Chiba Institute of Technology in Japan, where he also directs the Center for Radical Transformation.
https://blossom.primal.net/b1c701e0c0a3ced0aa800f98ece30410a743b5d63495bfab27e5fe63c9cca195.jpg

2026-02-05 16:44:58 CET

🚨NEW: REP LYNCH IS WRONG ON THE BANK SECRECY ACT
The Massachusetts Congressman claims the BSA is "highly useful" to combat terrorism. The data says otherwise.
Full story 👇
https://www.therage.co/rep-lynch-bank-secrecy-act/

2026-01-29 16:44:14 CET

🚨NEW: NOTES FROM THE INSIDE
"It often feels like I am stuck in a bad dream I cannot wake from," writes Samourai Wallet developer Keonne Rodriguez about his first month in FPC Morgantown.
Read the full letter 👇
https://www.therage.co/letter-4-notes-from-the-inside/

2026-01-21 15:30:10 CET

🚨NEW: NOTES FROM THE INSIDE
From sour milk to moldy burger buns, Samourai Wallet developer Keonne Rodriguez describes the realities of federal incarceration.
Full story 👇
https://www.therage.co/letter-3-notes-from-the-inside/

2026-01-14 18:34:36 CET

🚨NEW: THE MARKET STRUCTURE DRAFT IS DANGEROUS SLOP
Meant to include protections for developers, the draft leaves the door wide open for continued prosecution of developers and the total surveillance of non-custodial software users.
Full story👇
https://www.therage.co/market-structure-surveillance/

2025-12-17 17:57:32 CET

Two very big stories coming out before the end of the year. One that you will like, one that many of you will probably not so much like.
Subscribe to get reporting that cannot be bought off straight to your inbox.
https://blossom.primal.net/dc7d743214e5c83846fbe7064825067814bd697af05172fcf78291cbcb2feff0.jpg

2025-12-17 17:51:55 CET

🚨 "This Is Not How The First Amendment Works" Storm Defense Tells SDNY
The Tornado Cash developer continues to seek acquittal on all counts in a case that would chill "any innovation touching privacy."
Full story👇
https://www.therage.co/tornado-cash-first-amendment/

2025-12-15 22:43:10 CET

🚨 NEW: DONALD TRUMP ON PARDONING SAMOURAI WALLET DEVELOPER KEONNE RODRIGUEZ:
"I've heard about it, I'll look at it, you think he should be pardoned? Rodriguez, we'll look at that Pam, we'll take a look"
Full Clip👇
https://www.youtube.com/live/EfAbtXzo8Zk?t=10697s

2025-11-26 13:51:55 CET

💥NEW: FOUCAULT WOULD HAVE LOVED BALENCIAGA
We are entering the era of panopticore: mass surveillance made sexy to hide the violence inherent to being watched. But the pressure to perform is not code or policy
Full story👇
https://www.therage.co/foucault-would-have-loved-balenciaga/

2025-11-26 00:10:21 CET

🚨NEW: BSV BACKER CALVIN AYRE TIED UP IN WIRECARD SCANDAL
New reports identify the online gambling kingping as the "single customer" behind Wirecard's fabricated business network.
Full story👇
https://www.therage.co/calvin-ayre-wirecard/

2025-11-20 00:20:08 CET

🚨NEW: WILLIAM HILL SENTENCED TO FOUR YEARS IN PRISON, THREE YEARS OF SUPERVISED RELEASE
People should be deterred from doing what the Samourai Wallet developers did, Judge Cote stated in court.
Full story 👇
https://www.therage.co/samourai-sev-sentence/

2025-11-10 22:28:59 CET

🚨JUST IN:
New Market Structure discussion draft would protect non-custodial developers from money transmission charges 👇
https://www.agriculture.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/bipartisan_market_structure_discussion_draft.pdf
https://blossom.primal.net/f6809e9c15ec9040eb542327ddd7da6048b7c0758774c3ef2b6ae3461c35bce2.png

2025-11-10 21:42:01 CET

🚨NO, THE EU WILL NOT REQUIRE ID FOR EVERY BITCOIN TRANSACTION
But the AMLR is still a massive pile of trash. Here's what the new regulations mean.
Full story👇
https://www.therage.co/eu-bitcoin-kyc/

2025-11-06 20:29:22 CET

🚨KEONNE RODRIGUEZ SENTENCED TO 5 YEARS IN PRISON, $250,000 FINE, 3 YEARS OF SUPERVISED RELEASE
The Samourai Wallet developer will surrender to custody on December 19th. Rodriguez has the option to appeal, Judge Cote states.
Full story👇
https://www.therage.co/keonne-rodriguez-samourai-sentenced/

2025-11-06 18:05:56 CET

🚨 KEONNE RODRIGUEZ SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS, $250,000 FINE
https://blossom.primal.net/a46e39b88302acf2e74925e9fa39b7fd7c68a31a6f2f7d1b90d1f861938e48b5.jpg

2025-11-06 17:10:51 CET

Today and tomorrow we are live at the sentencing of Keonne Rodriguez and William Hill of Samourai Wallet ⬇️
https://blossom.primal.net/87836c0df8313246e9d110c74bf2c63d42e14c5735661656f647dc5d607f63a5.mp4

2025-11-03 17:01:22 CET

🚨NEW: US GOVERNMENT SEEKS MAXIMUM SENTENCE FOR SAMOURAI WALLET DEVELOPERS
"I co-founded a software company to develop tools that could provide the anonymity necessary to make Bitcoin work as intended," Hill tells the court.
Full story👇
https://www.therage.co/samourai-wallet-maximum-sentence/

2025-10-28 21:00:33 CET

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Liar

2025-10-13 18:45:28 CEST

🚨NEW: KYC ALL THE THINGS: IS MARKET STRUCTURE BLOWING UP?
A leaked proposal by Senate Democrats would give Treasury sweeping powers to ban non-custodial services, establishing authority over what code can be deployed, and what code can't.
Full story👇
https://www.therage.co/democrats-market-structure-leaked/

2025-10-02 15:07:22 CEST

Getting ready to record the first episode for our podcast tomorrow with a very special guest 👀
https://blossom.primal.net/fef346dca534f430765ddd21ac47e755c20b50761a5c018e8d2024cdefa0b8a5.mov

2025-10-01 15:16:44 CEST

🚨NEW: ROMAN STORM FILES MOTION FOR ACQUITTAL ON ALL COUNTS
The Government failed to provide sufficient evidence of illegal conduct and would criminalize the publication of decentralized software in violation of the first amendment.
Full story👇
https://www.therage.co/roman-storm-acquittal/

2025-09-25 23:06:15 CEST

🚨LEAKED: LUKE DASHJR PLANS HARDFORK TO "SAVE BITCOIN"
Text messages show the Knots maintainer is considering a hardfork to implement a trusted multisig committee that can retrospectively alter the blockchain to remove illicit content.
We included screenshots of all relevant messages we received for you to verify what Luke proposes for yourself.
Full story👇
https://www.therage.co/leaked-luke-dashjr-bitcoin-hardfork/

2025-09-23 13:35:54 CEST

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Why not get another hobby besides complaining on social media you loser

2025-09-22 23:07:20 CEST

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The link is in the comments jestopher
Next time maybe try DYOR before accusing us

2025-09-22 16:42:34 CEST

📢 "Pro-Bitcoin" Senator Lummis tells Semafor she no longer supports unrestricted First Amendment
https://blossom.primal.net/602fc142b162b747947c92dacc6afbdf8d45674750ecbe70439c9be26f22788c.png

2025-09-19 17:27:39 CEST

🚨NEW: CANADA SEIZES $56M IN CUSTOMER FUNDS WITHOUT CHARGES
Authorities have "reason to believe" that TradeOgre funds stem from illicit activity, as no-KYC services are a "common tactic" to launder money. No charges have been filed.
https://www.therage.co/tradeogre-seized-canada/

2025-09-10 13:16:46 CEST

👁️UK and UAE strengthen financial surveillance cooperation
The UAE persecutes journalists, activists and dissidents, systemically restricts freedom of speech, and engages in extrajudicial killings
Last year alone, 40 human rights defenders were sentenced to life in prison, according to human rights watch
https://blossom.primal.net/ddc0f88a2b5cd05ba2bb2c89925177273d534253500e70d658c8e119ec2a622f.png

2025-09-09 15:39:51 CEST

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⏬ Link to the proposed framework:
https://www.gallego.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Market-Structure-Framework-Final.pdf

2025-09-09 15:39:12 CEST

🚨 JUST IN: Democrats say digital asset platforms must register with FinCEN and comply with BSA in new market structure framework
https://blossom.primal.net/0aba66812b0a9d0d3a3fa1b0ecdffaa19347a1ba4a9b4f9b4033f7552acedbb9.png

2025-09-05 16:48:11 CEST

🚨JUST IN: Chainalysis Global Crypto Adoption Report removes DeFi as standalone category
DeFi described as "niche behavior" with "much smaller share of overall user activity" compared to centralized platforms
https://blossom.primal.net/f82916ca78819892e8b2b6721a03e90429151b9e82795b9f496cd891450f7808.png

2025-09-04 22:52:59 CEST

- reply

https://siliconangle.com/2025/08/18/ivix-raises-60m-funding-financial-crime-detection-platform/

2025-09-04 22:51:22 CEST

🔴 Financial Crime Detection startup IVIX, founded by Matan Fattal, a former member of Israel's notorious military intelligence Unit 8200, and Doron Passov, a former member of the IDF's secretive Unit 81 tasked with building custom espionage software, raises $60M Series B
IVIX "scans the web for signs of illicit financial activity," collecting data "using scrapers powered by large language models" sourced from "blockchains, short-term rental platforms, e-commerce marketplaces and other sources."
IVIX has developed software for the Government of Canada and the State of California. IVIX claims that it can identify entities behind illicit activity "with 99% accuracy."
https://blossom.primal.net/138c70d0a922b85f2ec25a9eafce0122f7d97efccca2e4f766a1fdc3bbd5777f.png

2025-08-13 20:04:04 CEST

🚨 New Google Play Store policy forces AML/KYC on non-custodial wallets in the US, effectively bans non-custodial wallet developers from Play Store in EU
Full Story👇
https://www.therage.co/google-play-store-ban-wallets/

2025-08-12 00:02:45 CEST

Ethereum Core developer Federico Carrone was arrested at passport controls in Turkey over his contributions to a paper that assessed privacy on Ethereum and Tornado Cash.
Full story 👇
https://www.therage.co/developer-arrested-over-tornado-cash-research/

2025-08-06 16:04:36 CEST

🚨JUST IN
Jury in trial against Roman Storm says it's deadlocked on some charges. Court asked jury to reconsider – if deadlock remains, the court will accept a partial verdict. Government may re-try remaining charges.