{"id":5811,"date":"2025-12-15T23:19:02","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T23:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/15\/trump-says-he-will-consider-a-pardon-for-samourai-bitcoin-wallet-co-founder\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T23:19:02","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T23:19:02","slug":"trump-says-he-will-consider-a-pardon-for-samourai-bitcoin-wallet-co-founder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/15\/trump-says-he-will-consider-a-pardon-for-samourai-bitcoin-wallet-co-founder\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Says He Will Consider A Pardon for Samourai Bitcoin Wallet Co-Founder"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n

Trump Says He Will Consider A Pardon for Samourai Bitcoin Wallet Co-Founder<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

President Donald Trump said he\u2019ll review the case of Keonne Rodriguez, co-founder of Samourai Wallet, as questions mount over the federal conviction of the Bitcoin privacy software developer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When asked about Rodriguez\u2019s upcoming prison sentence, Trump said, \u201cI\u2019ve heard about it. I\u2019ll look at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know anything about it,\u201d President Trump said. \u201cBut we\u2019ll take a look.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rodriguez publicly acknowledged Trump\u2019s sentiment, tweeting<\/a> \u201cYour continued noise is working. Thank you to everyone pushing @realDonaldTrump to pardon Bill and me. Let\u2019s get this over the line. #pardonsamourai\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodriguez, along with co-founder William \u201cBill\u201d Hill, was convicted<\/a> of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, a charge stemming<\/a> from Samourai Wallet, a Bitcoin privacy tool that allowed users to mix coins and maintain financial anonymity without giving up custody of their funds.<\/p>\n

\n

JUST IN: President Trump says he will consider a pardon for the CEO of privacy-focused Bitcoin wallet Samourai.<\/p>\n

“I’ve heard about it, I’ll look at it. Let’s take a look at it.” pic.twitter.com\/WfpLPYOlfj<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) December 15, 2025<\/a>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Details of the Samourai Wallet case<\/h2>\n

The case, which began under the Biden administration and continued through the Trump Justice Department, culminated in Rodriguez receiving a five-year sentence and Hill four years, though Hill\u2019s age and recent autism diagnosis led to a reduced sentence.<\/p>\n

Critics of the prosecution argue the case represents a dangerous precedent for the cryptocurrency industry. The U.S. Department of Justice claimed<\/a> that Samourai Wallet facilitated over $2 billion in unlawful transactions and laundered more than $100 million from criminal sources. However, only the \u201cunlicensed money transmission\u201d charge survived a high-profile trial, raising questions about the strength of the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Samourai Wallet\u2019s mixing services, Whirlpool and Ricochet, were designed to obscure<\/a> the origin of criminal proceeds from activities including drug trafficking, darknet marketplaces, fraud, cybercrime, and murder-for-hire operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Court documents reveal the developers actively encouraged criminal use, describing the service as \u201cmoney laundering for bitcoin\u201d and promoting its tools on darknet forums.<\/p>\n

The Department of Justice framed the case as part of a broader crackdown on crypto mixing services. Rodriguez had requested a light sentence, but the court imposed the statutory five-year maximum.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s comments come amid his campaign promises to defend the right to self-custody and financial privacy. During the 2024 Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, he pledged<\/a> to end what he described as the \u201canti-crypto crusade\u201d of the prior administration.<\/p>\n

A pardon for Rodriguez and Hill would signal a clear commitment<\/a> to those promises, protecting developers from legal exposure for building tools that enhance privacy and security for everyday Americans.<\/p>\n

With Rodriguez set to report to prison on December 18 and Hill already sentenced, the Trump administration faces a high-profile decision that could shape the future of financial privacy, software development, and cryptocurrency regulation in the United States.<\/p>\n

This post Trump Says He Will Consider A Pardon for Samourai Bitcoin Wallet Co-Founder<\/a> first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine<\/a> and is written by Micah Zimmerman<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin Magazine Trump Says He Will Consider A Pardon for Samourai Bitcoin Wallet Co-Founder President Donald Trump said he\u2019ll review the case of Keonne Rodriguez, co-founder of Samourai Wallet, as questions mount over the federal conviction of the Bitcoin privacy software developer.\u00a0 When asked about Rodriguez\u2019s upcoming prison sentence, Trump said, \u201cI\u2019ve heard about it. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5811","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bitcoin"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}