Rodriguez was scheduled to enter detention on the 18th. Trump’s last 72-hour call to “review” cast a shock on the privacy code case.
(Background briefing: 3,200 Bitcoin community members signed a petition for Trump to pardon Samourai: the wallet developer is neutral and should not be considered a money launderer)
(Additional background: The US fires again! The founder of mixing tool Samourai was arrested on charges of money laundering, Snowden criticized angrily: invading financial privacy)

Table of Contents

• Intervention before imprisonment
• DOJ’s iron fist and $200 million controversy
• Potential domino effect

The co-founder of Samourai Wallet, Keonne Rodriguez, who was supposed to wear prison clothes, experienced a sudden turn of fate today. With only 72 hours left before detention, President Trump threw a phrase to the media: “I will review,” prompting the Department of Justice to immediately investigate under the direction of Attorney General Pam Bondi. The White House’s intervention at the last moment is seen as a positive challenge to the encryption regulation routines during Biden’s administration.

Intervention before imprisonment

On the 15th, Trump responded to a question by saying, “I don’t know anything about it, but we will see.” This less-than-ten-word reply was enough to freeze the already scheduled judicial process. Rodriguez was originally sentenced to 5 years, CTO William Lonergan Hill to 4 years with a forfeiture of $6.37 million, and the verdict was fixed. However, whether administrative power can rewrite the outcome suddenly became a concern.

After returning to the White House, Trump has twice exercised his pardon power: in January, he released Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the dark web “Silk Road”; in October, he pardoned Binance founder Zhao Changpeng. Now, the focus shifts to privacy protocol developers, indicating that Trump is gradually dismantling the legacy of financial regulation, establishing an “commitment—action—pardon” operational model.

DOJ’s iron fist and $200 million controversy

The US Department of Justice alleges that Samourai Wallet’s Whirlpool and Ricochet coin-mixing services processed over $2 billion in transactions, with $100 million to $237 million linked to the dark web, hacker attacks, and scams. Prosecutors cited internal communications within the development team, claiming they called their service “Bitcoin laundering,” undermining the “tool neutrality” defense. The Record points out that these messages became key evidence for conviction.

Faced with the original verdict, Rodriguez chose to bypass appeals and directly target the presidential pardon. CryptoBriefing noted that pursuing judicial appeals could cost an additional $7 million and years of waiting in prison, making the cost-benefit imbalance clear. By framing the case as a “weaponized DOJ,” aligning with Trump’s distrust of the current system, it successfully attracted attention. In an interview with Bitcoin Magazine, Rodriguez bluntly stated:

“Because President Trump has personally experienced the weaponization of the DOJ against him, I believe when he sees the facts laid out on the table, he will know exactly what happened.”

Time is running out. If the White House finally signs a pardon, privacy code developers will no longer rely solely on court defenses but may gain administrative backing.

Potential domino effect

Once Rodriguez is pardoned, signals will spill over to Silicon Valley and Wall Street: writing privacy protocols does not necessarily equate to running illegal remittance businesses. The scope of the Bank Secrecy Act’s applicability in the era of decentralized finance will inevitably be re-examined. For defendants like Roman Storm, the developer of Tornado Cash, Trump’s “We will see” already serves as a significant morale boost.

The gates are not yet closed, and Washington is staging an ultimate showdown between code and power. If the pardon materializes, the crypto industry may usher in a “Cambrian Explosion” of regulatory concepts; if not, privacy developers will still need to seek their next exit between courts and prisons. The outcome of this gamble will be revealed in three days at the latest.