Samourai Wallet — Bitcoin's most popular privacy wallet — is dead. Both founders now in federal prison.
Rodriguez got 5 years, Hill got 4. They pleaded guilty to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. The feds argued Whirlpool (their coinjoin mixing tool) was a money laundering operation.
DOJ confirmed the seized Bitcoin stays in the Strategic Reserve. Sell it, they profit. Hodl it, they profit. Either way, government stacks off prosecuting Bitcoiners.
But the precedent is the bigger problem. The government's position: if you build a tool that mixes Bitcoin transactions and collect fees, you're a money transmitter. No custodial control required.
Rodriguez warned before reporting to prison: "Bitcoin miners will be the next targets" if this logic holds.
Mining pools collect fees. Mining pools combine outputs from multiple sources. If coinjoin is money transmission, what's pooled mining?
