Why Trump Should Pardon The Developers of Bitcoin's Non-Custodial Samourai Wallet

Source: CryptoNewsNet Original Title: Why Trump Should Pardon The Developers of Bitcoins Non Custodial Samourai Wallet Original Link: On December 18th, days before Christmas, Keonne Rodriguez, co-founder of the Bitcoin Samourai Wallet, will have to surrender to prison. His crime? Creating a software tool that gave Bitcoin users comparable privacy to that which banks are expected to provide. Samourai Wallet, the brand and technology stack built by Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, was shut down by the U.S. Government in April 2024 on a variety of charges, including money laundering, but only one charge stuck after a high-profile trial, the weakest charge of all, “unlicensed money transmission”.

What does it mean to transmit money? According to prosecutors, custodial control over user funds is no longer a requirement to need an MSB license; “a USB cable transfers data from one device to another, and a frying pan transfers heat from a stove to the contents of the pan, although neither situation involves exercising ‘control’ over what is being transferred.” If the DoJ can indict a frying pan, then USB manufacturers better lawyer up!

Remarkably, even FinCEN disagrees with the DoJ’s novel legal interpretation of what constitutes a money transmitter, as guidance at the time said non-custodial services could not be money transmitters because they do not exert control over money flows. FinCEN reasserted this fact to the DoJ prosecutors in a written statement, but they went forward with the charges anyway. This critical fact was withheld from the defense for almost a year, when it was finally revealed, “the judge denied the motion to present this evidence in the hearings, without even any argument,” according to Rodriguez. Critics argue this misconduct by the DoJ prosecutors is a violation of Brady v. Maryland, denying access to material that could have undermined the unlicensed money transmission charges.

Zack Shapiro, head of policy at the Bitcoin Policy Institute, warns about the potential ramifications of this legal case, arguing that “collapsing the distinction between developing a tool and operating a service would introduce an untenable level of risk for anyone building privacy-enhancing or security-critical software.”

“Rodriguez and Hill ultimately accepted plea agreements in the face of substantial sentencing exposure, even though government records undermined the central regulatory theory of the case,” Shapiro added, calling for a pardon of the Samourai Wallet developers.

Fundamentally, the prosecutorial approach in the Samourai Wallet case risks establishing an influential precedent that threatens the financial privacy of citizens and stifles innovation in the crypto industry. It could shape future prosecutions and regulatory developments, potentially reclassifying non-custodial services as money transmitters under federal law—requiring national MSB registration with FinCEN—and prompting stricter state-level licensing in jurisdictions like New York or California.

This case mirrors the trial against Ross Ulbricht a decade earlier. Many in the crypto industry see entrepreneurs like Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, alongside developers of privacy tools, as victims of regulatory overreach by an entrenched financial establishment.

It is time for the administration to meet its commitments to the crypto community and defend self-custody and the industry in America. A pardon of Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill would send a clear signal that the United States stands with the fundamental human right to privacy, dignity, due process, and the presumption of innocence—not with mass surveillance and intimidation tactics. That Americans will not accept surveillance-based systems that infringe on financial privacy and individual liberty.