Amir Taaki, Bitcoin Privacy Pioneer, Deported by Singapore

Amir Taaki, a well-known crypto-anarchist, former Bitcoin Core developer, and a legendary figure among cypherpunks, has reportedly encountered fresh legal issues.

In a post on X on Tuesday, Taaki stated that Singaporean authorities questioned him and subsequently deported him, with the interrogation centering on his professional activities.

Taaki, a British-Iranian programmer and one of the early contributors to Bitcoin, said his troubles with various nations stem from his time fighting alongside the Kurdish People's Protection Units in Syria several years ago.

Just got questioned for 6 hours by glow police then deported from Singapore. Everything about what I work on.

The extralegal glow regime charge my friends with fake things like money laundering. But they have nothing on me so they strike from the shadow. Weak coward tactics.…

— Amir Taaki ⛛ (@lunardragon420) October 6, 2026

Taaki, who has made substantial contributions to bitcoin privacy over the years, is currently developing a crypto privacy protocol known as DarkFi.

"The extralegal glow regime charge my friends with fake things like money laundering," Taaki wrote.

"But they have nothing on me so they strike from the shadow. Weak coward tactics. Face me bitch."

According to Taaki, within the last year alone he has also been deported from Argentina and Mexico, and was detained in Serbia and Japan.

He went on to say, "Every time it happens I ask why and they always tell me it's just a random check," adding that authorities never provide reasons for his detention or questioning.

"I am on a list but I am not able to find any info about which country has sanctioned me."

Taaki, who has written for Bitcoin Magazine, first ran into trouble with British authorities after he traveled to Syria to fight against the Islamic State group in 2016.

In a 2017 BBC interview, he stated that he spent three and a half months fighting with the Kurdish People's Protection Units before assisting with community projects in the country.

The privacy-focused developer wrote the initial implementations of CoinJoin and stealth addresses, created libbitcoin, and founded the United Kingdom's first Bitcoin exchange.

He also authored BIP 0001, which established the Bitcoin Improvement Proposal process.