By Susie Violet Ward · Forbes · 26 April 2024
In April 2024, US authorities arrested Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, the founders of Samourai Wallet. Federal prosecutors accused the wallet of facilitating about $2 billion in unlawful transactions, including more than $100 million linked to money laundering from dark web markets since 2015. At the time of the article, Rodriguez and Hill had not commented on the charges.
The article compares bitcoin privacy tools with cash, which has long allowed anonymous transactions, and sets out the arguments of privacy supporters, including the view that code is a form of protected speech, alongside the case made by advocates of regulation. It notes an FBI alert dated 25 April 2024 warning Americans against unregistered crypto money-transmitting services, and cites UN estimates that between $800 billion and $2 trillion is laundered each year.