{"id":289497,"date":"2024-04-25T14:59:12","date_gmt":"2024-04-25T09:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/?p=289497"},"modified":"2024-04-25T14:59:12","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T09:29:12","slug":"cryptoquant-ceo-slams-doj-for-charges-against-btc-wallet-founders-crypto-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/cryptoquant-ceo-slams-doj-for-charges-against-btc-wallet-founders-crypto-news\/","title":{"rendered":"CryptoQuant CEO Slams DoJ For Charges Against BTC Wallet Founders – Crypto News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The founders of Samourai Wallet, Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, are facing charges of money laundering conspiracy brought by federal prosecutors. This move aligns with the U.S. government\u2019s ongoing efforts to prosecute tools in the crypto space used for mixing funds.<\/p>\n

Moreover, they deem it a move by illicit entities and foreign actors aiming to conceal financial transfers. However, the Department of Justice (DoJ) has attracted backlash from pressing charges against Samourai Wallet founders. CryptoQuant CEO and founder Ki Young Ju advocated for Samourai Wallet and its founders.<\/p>\n

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CryptoQuant CEO Backs Samourai Wallet<\/h2>\n

In a post on X, the CryptoQuant CEO wrote, \u201cThe US DOJ has arrested pioneers in #Bitcoin privacy technology.\u201d He noted that crypto mixing is not a crime by itself since it enhances privacy. Ju noted, \u201cPrivacy stands as a core value of Bitcoin. Mixing itself is not a crime. Even crypto exchanges use mixing to safeguard user privacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Ju highlighted that the way a feature is used and the intent behind deems it as lawful or illicit. He compared the Samourai Wallet case the to usage of a knife, which can both be lawful and illegal. The CryptoQuant founder noted, \u201cIt\u2019s like punishing the inventor of the knife instead of the one who uses it.<\/p>\n

However, in the announcement, it was revealed that Rodriguez and Hill stand accused of designing, promoting, and operating a mixing service responsible for facilitating over $100 million in money laundering transactions from illicit dark web markets. Allegedly, Samourai Wallet has enabled approximately $2 billion in illicit transactions since its inception in 2015.<\/p>\n

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Also Read:\u00a0DOJ Arrests Samourai Wallet Duo for Laundering $100M<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Other Charges Pressed On Keonne Rodriguez & William Lonergan Hill<\/h2>\n

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Moreover, prosecutors claimed that the duo amassed around $4.5 million in fees for their mixing services on Samourai Wallet. These services offered different features charging varying pool fees. Charges against them include conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to run an unlicensed money transmitting business, carrying potential maximum sentences of 20 years and five years, respectively.<\/p>\n

In addition, Rodriguez has been apprehended and is expected to be arraigned in Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, Hill, serving as the CTO of Samourai Wallet, was detained in Portugal and faces extradition to the U.S. Additionally, authorities have seized the Samourai Wallet website, hosted in Iceland, and issued a warrant for the seizure of its mobile application from the Google Play Store.<\/p>\n

According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Rodriguez and Hill allegedly encouraged users to launder criminal proceeds through their mixer, with evidence cited from tweets and private messages. The mobile app has garnered over 100,000 downloads.<\/p>\n

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Allegedly, the founders\u2019 focus was on censorship resistance and the black\/grey circular economy, with no expectation of mass adoption but rather targeting black\/gray markets, particularly during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

They purportedly sought investors by pitching to \u201cdark\/gray market participants,\u201d with marketing materials listing \u201cRestricted Markets.\u201d This was executed alongside online gambling and asset protection as target demographics.<\/p>\n

Also Read:\u00a0Ex-SEC Official Reacts To DOJ Seeking 3-Year Prison Term For Binance Founder CZ<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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CoinGape comprises an experienced team of native content writers and editors working round the clock to cover news globally and present news as a fact rather than an opinion. CoinGape writers and reporters contributed to this article. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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The presented content may include the personal opinion of the author and is subject to market condition. Do your market research before investing in cryptocurrencies. The author or the publication does not hold any responsibility for your personal financial loss.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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The founders of Samourai Wallet, Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, are facing charges of money laundering conspiracy brought by federal prosecutors. This move aligns with the U.S. government\u2019s ongoing efforts to prosecute tools in the crypto space used for mixing funds. Moreover, they deem it a move by illicit entities and foreign actors aiming […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[201,248,251,246,257,255,250,252,247,253,249,256,254],"class_list":["post-289497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-others","tag-blockchain","tag-bsc","tag-chainlink","tag-coin","tag-cryptocurrency","tag-gta","tag-looks-rare","tag-oracle","tag-polygon","tag-quickswap","tag-safe-moon","tag-wallet","tag-wordpress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289497"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":289500,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289497\/revisions\/289500"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}