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President Donald Trump said he will review a potential pardon for the Samourai wallet founder, Keonne Rodriguez, just four days before Rodriguez is scheduled to report to federal prison, a move that has drawn renewed attention from crypto investors, policymakers, and the wider public.
Speaking at the Oval Office on Monday, Trump acknowledged the request, asked the attorney general to examine the case, and signaled openness to reconsidering a conviction tied to cryptocurrency privacy tools and money laundering charges.
Rodriguez, the Samourai wallet founder, co-launched Samourai Wallet with William Lonergan Hill as a bitcoin wallet emphasizing user privacy.
Central to the case was a crypto mixing feature designed to obscure transaction trails, making it harder to identify the origin and destination of funds. Federal prosecutors argued that this feature was deliberately used to launder millions of dollars derived from criminal activity.
The Justice Department arrested Rodriguez and Hill during Joe Biden’s presidency, charging them with conspiracy to commit money laundering and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business.
Prosecutors alleged that the pair actively encouraged users to rely on Samourai’s mixing services to clean illicit proceeds.
Last month, a federal court sentenced Rodriguez, the Samourai wallet founder, to five years in prison. Hill, who served as the project’s chief technology officer, received a four-year sentence. Authorities said the penalties reflected the scale of the alleged laundering and the defendants’ roles in maintaining the service.
Trump addressed the matter during a question-and-answer session with reporters at the White House. “I’ve heard about it, I’ll look at it,” the president said, before turning to Attorney General Pam Bondi. “I don’t know anything about it, but we’ll take a look,” he added.
The comments placed the Samourai wallet founder alongside a growing list of high-profile crypto figures whose convictions or legal troubles have intersected with Trump’s use of executive pardon powers.
The president recently pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the creator of Silk Road, who had been serving two life sentences for operating a darknet marketplace that used bitcoin for payments.
Trump also pardoned former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao in October, framing the decision as part of an effort to end what he described as the Biden administration’s “war against crypto.”
These moves have fueled debate in Washington over whether crypto-related prosecutions unfairly target technology developers and entrepreneurs, or whether they represent necessary enforcement to protect financial systems from abuse.
Within the bitcoin community, advocacy groups that rallied behind Ulbricht have increasingly voiced support for the Samourai wallet founder and for developers linked to other privacy-focused tools, including Tornado Cash. Supporters argue that writing code and providing privacy software should not be equated with facilitating crime.
Critics, however, maintain that the Samourai case illustrates how anonymity-enhancing tools can be weaponized at scale, complicating law enforcement efforts and undermining anti-money laundering safeguards.
The case has become a flashpoint for policymakers weighing how to regulate privacy technologies without stifling innovation or infringing on civil liberties.
Rodriguez publicly responded after Trump’s comments, posting on X as the reporting deadline approached.
“I have always said that the most challenging aspect of getting a pardon for me and Bill would be getting the attention of Donald Trump,” the Samourai wallet founder wrote.
“President Trump knows all about a weaponized Biden DOJ hunting down their political rivals … If he looks at our case closely it will be a case of deja vu, and I think he would do the right thing and grant us a pardon.”
He also thanked supporters and emphasized the urgency of the moment, noting that he had just four days remaining before surrendering to federal prison FPC Morgantown.
