Crypto Advocates Defend Samourai Wallet Developers Amid Privacy vs. Prosecution Debate

Crypto policy groups are rallying behind Samourai Wallet, urging U.S. courts to dismiss charges they say threaten the future of open-source privacy tools.

Major cryptocurrency advocacy organizations are calling for the dismissal of charges against Samourai Wallet, a Bitcoin mixing service whose developers face criminal allegations from U.S. authorities. This comes after federal courts rejected earlier amicus briefs filed in support of the developers.

Groups including the Blockchain Association, Coin Center, DeFi Education Fund, and the Bitcoin Policy Institute argue that Samourai Wallet merely enabled users to preserve privacy during on-chain transactions, without violating any existing U.S. laws. In their briefs, these organizations stressed that Samourai was a non-custodial software platform, not a money-transmitting business.

The U.S. Department of Justice charged developers Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill with operating an unlicensed money transmission service in April 2024, following a government takedown of the application. The DOJ claimed the service had become a tool for money laundering and criminal transactions.

However, crypto legal advocates countered, stating that writing software which others use to manage their own funds doesn’t qualify as operating a money service business under U.S. statutes. In their argument, the Blockchain Association and DeFi Education Fund noted that FinCEN guidelines require full independent control over funds to meet the legal definition of a money transmitter.

In their amicus brief, they warned that redefining these boundaries could have a chilling effect on open-source development:

“The government’s reinterpretation of money transmission laws to include privacy software tools sparked immediate concern across the crypto community,” the brief said. “For years, developers have relied on clear guidance that non-custodial software does not constitute transmission of money.”

Amanda Tuminelli, executive director of the DeFi Education Fund, added,

“Privacy is not a crime. People should have the option to transact with discretion—just as they do with physical cash.”

Coin Center’s director Peter Van Valkenburgh echoed that the developers never had control of users’ Bitcoin. Operating a coinjoin server, he explained, does not meet the legal criteria set by FinCEN in 2019.

Legal counsel for Rodriguez and Hill filed a motion last week to dismiss the case. Their submission emphasized that users always retained control over their own funds, and that Samourai Wallet was simply a privacy-preserving protocol.

This case emerges in the shadow of previous controversies, such as the Tornado Cash crackdown. That Ethereum-based mixing protocol was sanctioned in 2022 over its alleged use in laundering over $1 billion in illicit funds. One of its co-founders, Roman Storm, is still facing legal challenges in the U.S.

Despite its prior sanctioning, Tornado Cash was removed from the OFAC list in March 2025, and a federal court subsequently blocked any re-imposed sanctions. Coinbase notably backed a lawsuit contesting the Tornado Cash ban, reflecting growing resistance within the crypto industry to what many perceive as regulatory overreach.

As the Samourai case continues, its outcome may shape how U.S. courts treat developers of decentralized privacy protocols—and determine whether software code alone can constitute a crime.

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