Samourai Bitcoin App Founders Could Face 5 Years Following Guilty Plea

The founders of Samourai Wallet, a Bitcoin application emphasizing privacy, have agreed to plead guilty to charges relating to conspiracy to commit money laundering. Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, who founded the application, could face prison sentences of up to five years. The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that the application facilitated over $2 billion in illegal transactions, including those connected to illicit online marketplaces. Samourai was specifically designed to obscure the origin and flow of Bitcoin, making it an attractive tool for criminals. The application employed features such as CoinJoin, which pools multiple transaction inputs to conceal the original source of funds. In addition, the founders were charged with operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. This legal action highlights the increasing scrutiny faced by cryptocurrency applications that promise enhanced privacy, raising questions about balancing privacy with legal compliance in the cryptocurrency space.