{"id":6112,"date":"2026-01-16T19:16:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T19:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/16\/u-s-government-denies-sale-of-forfeited-samourai-wallet-bitcoin-says-btc-will-remain-in-strategic-bitcoin-reserve\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T19:16:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T19:16:16","slug":"u-s-government-denies-sale-of-forfeited-samourai-wallet-bitcoin-says-btc-will-remain-in-strategic-bitcoin-reserve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/16\/u-s-government-denies-sale-of-forfeited-samourai-wallet-bitcoin-says-btc-will-remain-in-strategic-bitcoin-reserve\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Government Denies Sale of Forfeited Samourai Wallet Bitcoin, Says BTC Will Remain in Strategic Bitcoin Reserve"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

U.S. Government Denies Sale of Forfeited Samourai Wallet Bitcoin, Says BTC Will Remain in Strategic Bitcoin Reserve<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Members of the U.S. government have denied reports that bitcoin forfeited<\/a> by Samourai Wallet developers was liquidated in violation of President Trump\u2019s executive order mandating the retention of government-held bitcoin.<\/p>\n

In a brief statement<\/a> on X on January 16, Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the President\u2019s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets and Deputy Director at the Department of War\u2019s Office of Strategic Capital, said the Department of Justice (DOJ) has confirmed that the forfeited digital assets \u201chave not been liquidated and will not be liquidated\u201d pursuant to Executive Order 14233.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Witt, the bitcoin will remain on the U.S. government\u2019s balance sheet as part of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve<\/a> (SBR).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have received confirmation from DOJ that the digital assets forfeited by Samourai Wallet have not been liquidated and will not be liquidated,\u201d Witt said. \u201cThey will remain on the USG balance sheet as part of the SBR.\u201d<\/p>\n

The clarification follows reporting by Bitcoin Magazine<\/em> earlier this month that raised questions about whether the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), acting under DOJ direction, had sold approximately 57.55 bitcoin \u2014 worth roughly $6.3 million at the time \u2014 using Coinbase Prime in November 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That reporting cited an \u201cAsset Liquidation Agreement\u201d and on-chain data suggesting the forfeited bitcoin may have been transferred directly to a Coinbase Prime address that later showed a zero balance, fueling speculation that the assets had already been sold.<\/p>\n

\n

BREAKING: President Trump Executive Director says the government has not sold any bitcoin forfeited by Samourai Wallet and the bitcoin will NOT be sold.<\/p>\n

The bitcoin will be added to the US strategic reserve. pic.twitter.com\/80vZymPmqK<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) January 16, 2026<\/a>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

The Samourai BTC will stay in the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve<\/h2>\n

If true, such a sale would have potentially violated EO 14233<\/a>, which explicitly states that bitcoin acquired by the U.S. government through criminal or civil forfeiture \u201cshall not be sold\u201d and must instead be retained as part of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The executive order was designed<\/a> to reverse the long-standing practice of liquidating seized bitcoin and to formally recognize bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset of the United States.<\/p>\n

The Samourai Wallet case<\/a> has been closely watched within Bitcoin and crypto policy circles, not only because of the forfeiture issue but also due to broader concerns about continued prosecutions of developers of noncustodial software.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Samourai developers Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill pleaded guilty and were charged<\/a> in 2025 to conspiracy to operate<\/a> an unlicensed money transmitting business, a charge critics argue is incompatible with the noncustodial nature of the software.<\/p>\n

Those concerns have been heightened by what many view as inconsistencies between DOJ actions and guidance issued under the Trump administration, including Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche\u2019s April 2025 memo calling for an end to \u201cregulation by prosecution\u201d of noncustodial crypto tools, according to Bitcoin journalist Frank Corva.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

If true, the administration\u2019s confirmation that the Samourai bitcoin remains intact and earmarked for the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve will likely be seen as a win for proponents of the bitcoin industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This post U.S. Government Denies Sale of Forfeited Samourai Wallet Bitcoin, Says BTC Will Remain in Strategic Bitcoin Reserve<\/a> first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine<\/a> and is written by Micah Zimmerman<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin Magazine U.S. Government Denies Sale of Forfeited Samourai Wallet Bitcoin, Says BTC Will Remain in Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Members of the U.S. government have denied reports that bitcoin forfeited by Samourai Wallet developers was liquidated in violation of President Trump\u2019s executive order mandating the retention of government-held bitcoin. In a brief statement on X […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6113,"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-6112","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\/6112","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=6112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}