“The current administration often speaks in support of Bitcoin, yet the Justice Department continues to pursue policies that may predate this administration – targeting privacy technologies and open-source developers… Open-source developers deserve protection, not persecution.”
Samourai Wallet is a privacy-first Bitcoin wallet, co-founded by Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill. It lets users mask their transaction histories and identities by using mixing features like Whirlpool and Ricochet.
The Department of Justice alleged that Samourai processed more than $2 billion in transactions and laundered over $100 million in criminal proceeds, including funds linked to hacking, fraud, drug trafficking, and murder-for-hire.
The core charges? Conspiracy to commit money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, with prosecutors arguing that the creators marketed their software to people seeking to hide illicit funds. The devs pleaded guilty, and Rodriguez was given the maximum sentence of five years and ordered to pay a $250,000 fine. Hill will be sentenced later this month.
But while crypto devs get handed hefty sentences, financial titans like JPMorgan keep writing settlement checks and moving on unscathed.
Samourai Wallet’s prosecution marks a chilling milestone in the war on privacy-first financial tools, as Wall Street banks continue to avoid direct accountability for criminal allegations, settling massive cases without jail time.
The push for a Samourai pardon is the tip of a growing movement: stand up for privacy, code, and the principles of financial freedom, or risk watching them put behind bars.
This is the new crypto election cycle, where the lines between code and crime, settlement and sentence, are more blurred than ever, and the fight for justice is the industry’s loudest call yet.
