When the agents arrived at Leverett St., Keene, New Hampshire (a leafy block full of kit houses located at the quiet edges a small college town), the sky was still dark. The agents settled on the corner house and enclosed it with two armored BearCat G3s, as well as a fleet unmarked SUVs. Camo fatigued gunners were stationed on both BearCats in a hatch on their roof. The sirens in blue and red strobe off every house, the only light.Ian Freeman, his girlfriend and their small dog Coconut were asleep inside. The sound of glass exploding woke him up. The BearCats had a ramming pole attached to their front. It had broken through a first-floor window and tore off the frame. Freeman, still snoring, threw on his bathrobe and stumbled down. There was broken glass everywhere. He thought that a stranger had broken the glass. He then heard a whirring sound. It was a small hovering drone police had sent to investigate the house. He saw blinding lights outside. Men pointed guns at him, as he came into focus near the lights.Aria DiMezzo, Freemans radio talk show host, stumbled down in her underwear and was confronted by a tactical assault team who threatened to shoot her if they didn't stop her. A group of agents removed a Bitcoin dispenser from the concrete floor and left four holes where it was bolted. They also took another machine from central Keene's Campus Convenience, another from Murphys Taproom and another from Nashua's Red Arrow Diner. They had more than $50,000 cash together.Federal agents seized more money from Freeman's home and reported it to the courts as a forfeiture filing. They seized $180,000 in cash and a 100oz Swiss Silver bar, which was worth approximately $3,000, and a platinum coin with Ron Paul portrait stamped on it. Many boxes contained gold-laced bills, called goldbacks. Some were taken from Freeman's home while others were seized by the postal service in transit. Two Casascius physical bitcoins were worth 10 and 1 BTC respectively. They were first made available in 2011, and are now valued at nearly $400,000.The money was almost as important to police as Freeman. They had been following Freeman's Bitcoin business for years in search of evidence of money laundering and other crimes. They believed it was part of an illegal money transmission scheme that processed millions of dollars each year. The raid was designed to disrupt that system by removing each Freemans Bitcoin machine and seizing any illegal proceeds.The news of the raid quickly spread. Christopher Waid, a local Linux developer and crypto activist, raced to Freeman's house to capture footage of the BearCats and drones as well as the strange militarism. After he had finished filming, he went to the Bitcoin Embassy to capture footage of police removing duffel bags from the house and filling plastic tubs with loose paper. The embassy, despite its name, was nothing more than a sideroom to a convenience shop. Its most striking feature was its bookshelf. This contained DevOps manuals and Robert A. Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Misstress.Freeman has been warning of federal encroachment for years. He broadcast every night on radio about the tightening grip of the state. Freeman's Bitcoin venture was part a larger Free State movement in New Hampshire. It transformed a quiet corner New England into a libertarian paradise. The counterforce arrived, fulfilling a prophecy. And the Free Staters knew exactly what their role was. While the raid continued, they were on hand with cameras and asked for warrants. They had to shout louder when police pushed the crowd along the street.One of the protestors said to agents, "You guys are the fucking enemies!" as they sorted through another box of papers. You are not protecting anyone's freedom. You're all just a bunch of gangsters.Six people were taken into custody by the close of the 16th March, including Freeman and his girlfriend. DiMezzo, a man named Richard Paul and another co-host on the radio show were also identified. Paul had legal changed his name from Nobody to protest the bureaucratic government. The indictment stated that all six were involved in Freeman's Bitcoin dispenser business. The day before the raid, an indictment was filed under seal. It listed thirteen instances where someone from the group had called a bank for the business. Each call or email was considered wire fraud.Defense lawyers describe the project as more idealistic. One filing states that the defendants were an unaffiliated group of libertarian-leaning people who believed that Bitcoin was a significant development for those who support human freedom.Although you may not be able to see it, there are many Keene residents like them. It is a quiet college town with less than 25,000 residents. However, New Hampshire's libertarian migration (also called the Free State Project), has made it a magnet for crypto enthusiasts. Some of these people have become millionaires unexpectedly after the Bitcoin boom. Forbes called the town a "crypto mecca" in 2019, citing over 20 businesses that accept cryptocurrency payments. Freeman and his associates solicited many of these businesses directly, seeing cryptocurrency as a moral crusade against US government belligerence.Freeman is most well-known as the host of Free Talk Live. This libertarian talk radio program was syndicated to 185 radio stations throughout the country. Waid was one of many activists who appeared on the program at one time. The BearCat was driving through the window and into Freeman's studio. This is where the show is recorded and mixed.Free Talk Live allowed Freeman to bring together a group of crypto-minded libertarians from Keene. However, it also magnified his worst mistakes. It was the center of his ongoing lawsuit against New Hampshire's mask mandate. Freeman says that I was not convinced that COVID was particularly dangerous. Free Talk Live was also the first home for Christopher Cantwell, the notorious crying nazi who appeared on Free Talk Live while he was trying to be a libertarian antipolice activist. Freeman states that he fired him from Free Talk Live when he turned racist. He kept going deeper into this world.Freemans radio show was a gathering place for early Bitcoin enthusiasts in the chaotic world of libertarian talk radio. The first Free Talks call about Bitcoin was made in December 2010. This month, Satoshi Nakamoto died from the active development of Bitcoin.According to forfeiture documents, Freeman's cryptocurrency holdings now amount to well over $1.5 Million.The episode was hailed on Free Talk Live as the first mention of Bitcoin by consumer media. It now appears to be a time capsule. After a discussion about volunteer alternatives to the fire service and municipal road maintenance, the conversation shifts to crystal meth and Venezuela in the first 20 minutes. About 40 minutes into the interview, Jeremy from Australia calls in to discuss Bitcoin, a new digital currency.In August, it was only six cents per Bitcoin. Now, it's 26 cents. Jeremy states that this is a significant increase.Freeman responded to my initial concerns that it was essentially a fiat currency. It's a great idea. It's a great alternative, but I don't know if it is yet.In the months that followed, Freeman became more interested in Bitcoin and eventually integrated it into larger complaints about how the US government controlled the dollar's value. It climbed steadily: it reached $1,000 within three years, and then $10,000 in four years. The forfeiture documents show that Freeman's cryptocurrency holdings now amount to well over $1.5million.With more money flowing into cryptocurrency, came something else. Bitcoin's most recent version is more focused on making money than politics. Venture capital has embraced the blockchain as an opportunity on the same scale as targeted advertising or independent-contractor labor schemes. At a Bitcoin conference, it is rare to hear about concerns about the Federal Reserve. Few are interested in negotiating with regulators because there is no money in it.The money is available if you are willing to cooperate with regulators. Coinbase, a pioneer in federal Know Your Customer rules is currently processing over $100 billion per month. The company is worth $50 billion. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is introducing new wallet regulations. While some activists are concerned, many entrepreneurs welcome them. The Winklevoss twins, who are real estate moguls and retail investors, promised that everyone who has a Bitcoin will eventually become a millionaire at the Bitcoin 2021 conference.This shift was bittersweet for true believers such as Freeman. Freeman says that there is nothing wrong with someone seeing the world from this perspective, and wanting to make a profit. The libertarian Bitcoin community sees it differently. It is a dramatic transfer in power.Mt. The transfer of power between Mt. BTC-e, the world's largest unregulated exchange at the time, was taken down by international raids in 2017. A money laundering sting was also revealed in 2017. Last year, an Ohio man was charged with running Helix, a Bitcoin tumbler that mixed blockchain records and obscure transactions. A month later, a Russian-Swedish national was also arrested for operating a similar service, Bitcoin Fog.These cases are known as darknet and the prosecutors refer to them as darknet. They view the unregulated Bitcoin network as an organized criminal conspiracy. The blockchain is full of tainted funds. This includes money stolen from users, money that was sold online, and money that was taken from them as part of a hack. Criminals can escape with the money through anonymous exchanges and tumblers, so law enforcement agencies try to stop them one at a time, much like plugging a hole in a dam. The prosecutions adopt a fatalist logic because so much of the dirty money is trying to be clean. Any unregulated exchange can be used to launder money; any unmonitored movement of coins will eventually become an accomplice in a crime.The whole idea of the Keene project was to keep those coins anonymous. They wanted to preserve Bitcoin's original design and privacy while adhering to the laws. It seemed like another hole that needed to be filled to the federal government.Both Freeman and DiMezzo had been released on bail by the end of May. The trial was scheduled for October 2022. Freeman posted a humorous blog post to the Shire Society message boards: Hostage takers release Ian from From Merrimack Country Spiritual Retreat after significant delaysThey can't leave their home, trade Bitcoin or communicate with co-defendants. The bail conditions are strict, fitting the circumstances of the raid. This provision caused significant problems for Free Talk Live as it meant that the two main co-hosts couldn't speak to one another without risking additional jail time. After a few weeks, the court issued a relief order that allowed them to talk for the purposes coordinating the show. The show then resumed its normal troublemaking. They were gaining support for a ballot initiative that would allow New Hampshire secession from the United States by the end of July.Nobody was more hostile to the legal system than he and he remained in prison for several months longer. Court records show that his conversations with the public defense attorney turned into shouting matches. He was in prison for two weeks when he made an alarming phone call that halted his attempts to get pretrial release. Although the recording is sealed, a filing lists alarming titles for exhibits. These include audio clip need to die, audio clips start shooting pigs and audio clip killing himself if sentenced.Prosecutors claim he threatened his public defenders' life and that the public defender withdrew immediately from the case, placing the bail hearing on hold. He was still in prison as of August. The corrections building was surrounded by supporters waving signs saying "Free Nobody."Although Freemans' cohort had lived in the shadows of the larger Free State Project, a new wave libertarian activism emerged around him. Free Keene became a hub of news and information about bail hearings, protests, etc. Waid created a website to help the Crypto6, or as he called them, "The Crypto6". Soon T-shirts with the Crypto6 name became a common sight in town. Dave Ridley, a long-standing Free State activist, started organizing jail rallies to lend more credibility to the cause.Ridley began to move away from jail and started to do more extravagant activism. He branded himself as Bitcoin Gandhi, and launched a 24-day march that ran from Keene through Concord in a historically accurate Gandhi costume. YouTube videos show Ridley walking along narrow shoulders of two-lane highways picking up trash, and sometimes being interrogated by friendly but confused highway patrollers. Ridley wrote an open letter to New Englands General Services Agency asking them to distance themselves from the case. Ridley's Gandhi alter ego participated in another protest outside Concord federal building, wearing a foam suit Mr. Met that resembles a physical bitcoin.Freeman was well-versed in civil disobedience and used it to expose the brutality of the current carceral system. Freeman, who had previously sold marijuana on Keene's main street, challenged local police to arrest him for a crime that often goes unpunished. The encounter was filmed by a friend from across the street. Freeman's refusal to pay municipal fines is a longer-running gag. He litigates every parking ticket or summons until he feels it easier to give up.It can be difficult to see the difference between activism and a simple business when you look at his Bitcoin business. His machines were real and he was making money building cryptocurrency infrastructure as any entrepreneur. He arranged the business in a risky manner, avoiding financial licensing or other measures that protect many Bitcoin businesses from being prosecuted. Freeman knew a lot about cryptocurrency prosecutions, even more than his Wall Street counterparts. Although he knew his Bitcoin dispenser exposed him, it didn't stop him from doing so.I was on a mission spread BitcoinFreeman believes that he was being investigated as early as 2016. He claims that a federal agent approached Renee Spinella to ask about Freeman's Bitcoin transactions. Spinella refused information on Freeman. Her husband and she were both among those who were detained during the raids. It was a worrying sign that Freeman's Bitcoin business was being investigated by federal prosecutors.Freeman didn't abandon the project, though. He said that his Bitcoin work was too crucial to abandon, as a moral crusade against America's ability to wage war and its state.Freeman says that he was on a mission spreading Bitcoin. This is to give people a chance to get out from the government money system, which funds evil, violence, and war. People must get out of this system dollar by dollar.Freeman didn't believe that the FBI could bring a case. He said that we believed this was legal. Our church attorney wrote a legal opinion that examined both state and federal regulations. He stated that this was just a sale of product and not money transmission.The Shire Free Church prepared this opinion. It is based on a unique technical point that Freemans Bitcoin dispensers are more like ATMs than vending machines. Although the machines look like a Cupertino fried version of your regular cash machine, each one has its own wallet. This is similar to having a stash of bitcoins physically stored inside the machine. Freeman claims that the machines are not transmitting money to another location, but rather dispensing local inventory. Although it is a clever distinction, one can see why the FBI might not agree.Freeman had been operating the business in open and the New Hampshire Banking Department did not tell him to close it down. However, he continued to receive ominous warnings from law enforcement. Freeman was approached by an unknown individual who claimed to be a drug dealer, but Freeman believes he was an undercover FBI agent.He was a Bitcoin buyer and seemed like a decent man. Freeman said that he had shown up to one of our crypto meetups. Although he wasn't speaking to me directly, he said that ecstasy and heroin dealers were his business. There is a potential fed in this area! You could be a federal agent, or a fucking moron. Freeman claims he knew the danger and refused the sale to the man to avoid a money laundering case.However, even if Freeman was willing to squabble with the federal government he wasn't prepared for the brutality of the raid. Freeman claims they could have simply come and knocked. They didn't have to break in their windows.He was not prepared for the full extent of the charges. He is particularly concerned by the accusation of operating a financial crime enterprise that continues to operate, which was specifically brought up against him. The Shire Free Church's alleged gross receipts of more than $5,000,000 over two years seems to have triggered it. This puts it in another category of criminal organizations. Freeman expected more charges from the ongoing grand jury proceedings when we spoke.He tells me it was worse than I had expected. They aren't done yet.One of the biggest surprises for DiMezzo after her release was the Bitcoin bail restriction. Although it is a fair request by prosecutors, you cannot let an accused diamond-smuggler sell diamonds. However, it has caused a significant change in her life because DiMezzo uses Bitcoin as her money, which is not the norm for most cryptocurrency enthusiasts. I asked her about the 80 percent of her purchases made directly from the blockchain prior to the arrest. She said she used intermediary services such as AnyPay, or the many businesses in the Keene region that accept Bitcoin payments. DiMezzo claims she could go to a different restaurant each night and pay in cryptocurrency. This is not how Bitcoin works for most people. It can feel like Keenes crypto paradise is an island, completely disconnected from the wider movement of cryptocurrency.The island is shrinking after the raid. Freeman's jailmate Nobody called me from Merrimack jail and spoke bitterly about the refusal of Bitcoin developers to increase the block sizes. This disagreement ultimately led to the 2017 Bitcoin Cash Split. The block size of Bitcoin didn't change in the fight that he lost, which drove the price up and made it more difficult for on-blockchain transactions to occur. Although Bitcoin Cash is still used by the Keene contingent, or anonymous alternatives such as Monero, it's much more difficult to sell than Bitcoin.Bitcoin Cash is not of interest to the financial side of Bitcoin. This is the side that you'd find at a Miami party. They don't care about anonymity, on-chain transactions, or any other issues that could cause friction in the huge amounts of money flowing into cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is a business tool that allows for profit and not politics, according to most of the newcomers.They won't likely speak up in any of the cases.Freeman says there is a division between people who want cryptocurrency to be controlled and those who view it as a new freedom.This division is especially stark after the raids. Supporters are now trying to raise awareness and money. Although it would be great to have wealthy and powerful friends, Freeman has no expectation that the institutional Bitcoin community will intervene. Freeman says they won't be speaking up in any of our cases. They were irrelevant to us.Bitcoin was created to be a way out of all this and to create a monetary system that is not controlled by the Fed or the dollar. This was the dream that first attracted Freeman to Bitcoin. Before it was even more feasible as an investment than silver coins or gold-laced currency, this was his dream. Although Silicon Valley and Wall Street have become more friendly to Bitcoin over the past decade, prosecutors have learned how it can be controlled. However, Freeman still sees his dream of freedom beneath all that.He says they're going to regulate the exchanges. That is what we know. They will regulate banks and other pressure points. But, regardless of how hard they try to control cryptocurrency, it will fail due to its decentralized nature.For him, it is almost a point of religious faith. It will not be enough, no matter how strict the clampdown is. The wilder forces will not be stopped.He tells me that they can't control Bitcoin. They hate Bitcoin because of that.
