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The cryptocurrency market shows signs of consolidation while decisions regarding crypto companies are once again in focus. Significant statements have been made about the Samourai Wallet process, which has been frequently discussed in recent days. CryptoQuant’s founder and CEO Ki Young Ju responded to the recent arrest of the founders of Samourai Wallet by stating that crypto mixing services are not a crime.
What’s Happening in the Samourai Wallet Case?
According to Ki, who discussed the matter in an April 25 post, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) arrested pioneers of Bitcoin privacy, and Ki stated:
“Privacy stands as a fundamental value of Bitcoin. Mixing crypto is not a crime. Even crypto exchanges use mixing to protect user privacy. It’s like punishing the inventor instead of the user of a knife.”
On April 24, it was reported that Samourai Wallet’s CEO Keonne Rodriguez and Chief Technology Officer William Hill faced charges related to a conspiracy for money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. The arrests caused widespread concern in the crypto community, with participants fearing it might signal another attempt by the US government to undermine the sector.
Expert Comments Follow Quickly
NSA team member Edward Snowden described the arrests as an attack on financial privacy in a post dated April 24, and shared the following remarks:
“The Department of Justice has once again criminalized the developers of an application that restores financial privacy. The way to fix this is to make money inherently private by default. Privacy should never be exceptional, otherwise, they will deem it a crime.”
The Department of Justice claimed that Samourai Wallet facilitated over $2 billion in illegal transactions and enabled more than $100 million in money laundering from illegal dark web markets. Many experts perceived the enforcement action as a crackdown on financial privacy by the DOJ, including crypto analyst Ryan Adams who stated in an April 24 post:
“These developers face up to 25 years in prison just for writing code. The US government is sending a message; no transaction will be private.”
