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On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice from the Southern District of New York brought charges against the creators of Samourai Wallet for running an unlicensed money transmission service and for engaging in money laundering activities. This development has left the cryptocurrency community in dismay, with many expressing their displeasure over the aggressive measures employed by the U.S. authorities to undermine financial privacy.
Outcry from Crypto Community as Samourai Founders Face Legal Action
Samourai Wallet, the privacy-focused bitcoin (BTC) wallet designed to offer superior privacy and security for BTC users, has been officially shut down by U.S. federal authorities. Founders Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill were indicted on charges of money laundering and running an unlicensed money transmission service, allegedly processing over $2 billion in so-called “unlawful” transactions.
Fundamentally, Samourai was an open-source, non-custodial wallet designed to sever the link between sender and recipient, complicating the tracing of BTC flows through the use of mixing services. Samourai debuted in the cryptocurrency arena in May 2015 as an Android app, securing pre-seed funding in 2017, followed by investments from two venture rounds in 2019 and 2020. Following the indictment, there was a significant response from the cryptocurrency community regarding the lawsuit.
Chris Blec shared a conducted interview with Samourai’s lead developer, during which Blec directly questioned him about the potential consequences if Samourai faced similar repercussions as Tornado Cash. Tornado Cash had been sanctioned by the U.S. government, and its developers were indicted in August 2023 for conspiracy to commit money laundering, sanctions violations, and operating an unlicensed money transmission business.
When confronted with the possibility of facing similar challenges, the Samourai developer stated he would not live in fear. “Well I think that if things change, and there’s clear violations of the law, the law changes I mean, and we didn’t change and we we’re violating the law, then yeah I would expect it,” the Samourai dev told Blec. The developer added:
I don’t think we’re violating the law so I can’t image why they would come in and do that, and if they did, we do pay lawyers for a reason, we have them on retainer. We’ll fight it, obviously, that’s what you do when your charged with something you didnt do … you fight it and you hope for the best. I’m not going to live in fear.
Other cryptocurrency enthusiasts voiced their dissent against the U.S. government infringing upon their financial rights to conduct transactions privately. Taproot Wizards co-founder Udi Wertheimer said he was “shocked and saddened by the news.” “It is one of the biggest failings of this industry that in 15 years we still didn’t find a way for people to maintain their privacy legally. Privacy is normal,” Wertheimer added.
“What they did is legal, same with Tornado Cash, code is speech,” one person responded to Wertheimer’s X post. “Ultimately if the government doesn’t like what you’re doing they’ll still try to charge you and put you in jail.” BTC proponent Mandrik wrote, “Bitcoin privacy is under attack, and you guys are freaking out over jpgs.” The news about Samourai further prompted Edward Snowden to comment. The whistleblower stated:
The Department of ‘Justice’ has once again criminalized the developers of an app that restores financial privacy. The way to fix this it to make money private by default. Privacy must never be ‘exceptional,’ or they will make it criminal.
Numerous others echoed similar views. “Arguing you don’t need privacy because you have nothing to hide, is the same as saying, you don’t need free speech, because you have nothing to say,” another person wrote on X. Independent film director Jessica Solce commented on the charges on Wednesday. “Make no mistakes, Samourai Wallet terms of engagement are their virtues,” Solce said. “Fighting for Freedom and Privacy their ‘crime.’ They engaged the government head on by dismissing the financial box that controls us day by day – building a beautiful system that made the Government’s power and control obsolete.”
She added:
They will be called criminals but they are moral to the core. They are Death Athletes. This is why they supported my work. Ethics are dangerous and necessary.
Journalist and author of “One Nation Under Blackmail,” Whitney Webb also spoke out about the Samourai indictment. “There’s a war on financial privacy,” Webb remarked. “It will not magically stop because you hold some BTC and ‘number go up.’ Larry ‘markets like totalitarian governments.’ Fink + his cronies want to make bitcoin part of the programmable-surveillance digital money ecosystem, they are winning [right now].”
As debates continue, the outcome of this case could set a crucial precedent, shaping the future of privacy in the digital age and possibly redefining the boundaries between technology, legality, and personal financial sovereignty.
What do you think about the comments coming from the crypto community after the DOJ’s Samourai indictment? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.