Trump Signals Possible Pardon for Samourai Wallet Dev as Crypto Privacy Faces Regulatory Squeeze

The sentencing of Samourai Wallet developer Keonne Rodriguez has become a defining moment in the escalating battle between crypto privacy advocates and U.S. regulators—and now, President Donald Trump’s suggestion of a potential pardon could mark a rare turning point for the industry.

Speaking during an Oval Office event on Monday, Trump acknowledged Rodriguez’s case and indicated he was open to reviewing it.

“I’ve heard about it, I’ll look at it.”

The president later turned to the Attorney General Pam Bondi, asking her to look into the case. Bondi then appeared to write something down in her notebook. The brief exchange immediately reignited debate over whether the U.S. government is making another bold statement to protect crypto.

Samourai Wallet Sentencing Becomes a Flashpoint

Rodriguez was sentenced last month to five years in federal prison, the maximum penalty for a single charge of operating an unlicensed money transmission business.

He is scheduled to report to prison later this week. His offense: helping build Samourai Wallet, a non-custodial Bitcoin application designed to allow users to transact privately without handing control of funds to a third party.

The case originated under the Biden administration, when the Department of Justice accused Rodriguez and co-developer William Longeran Hill of facilitating illicit activity through privacy-enhancing software.

After return to the office, Trump’s has ordered the dropping of multiple Biden-era crypto prosecutions. However, the Samourai case continued. Rodriguez was ultimately sentenced to five years behind bars after pleading guilty to operating an illegal money transmitter.

For many in the crypto community, the punishment signaled a troubling precedent: that writing open-source privacy software could carry criminal liability, even when developers never custody user funds.

The Samourai case is not an isolated incident. It follows closely on the conviction of Roman Storm, a developer of Ethereum-based privacy protocol Tornado Cash, reinforcing fears that U.S. regulators are drawing an increasingly narrow line around what forms of crypto privacy are deemed acceptable.

Privacy advocates argue these prosecutions strike at the philosophical core of Bitcoin and blockchain technology. Bitcoin was created to enable peer-to-peer transactions without surveillance or intermediaries, yet developers attempting to preserve that original design are increasingly treated as facilitators of crime.

Ironically, Rodriguez’s sentencing comes amid public signals from the Trump administration suggesting a softer stance on decentralized software. Earlier this year, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche reportedly instructed federal prosecutors to ease off enforcement against crypto privacy tools. A senior DOJ official later told industry leaders the department would avoid targeting developers of non-custodial, decentralized software going forward.

Yet despite those assurances, prosecutors pressed for—and secured—the harshest possible sentence against the Samourai developers. The contradiction has left many questioning whether policy rhetoric is truly aligned with enforcement reality.

Why a Trump Pardon Would Matter

A presidential pardon for Rodriguez would extend far beyond one individual. Symbolically, it would signal that writing privacy-focused crypto software is not inherently criminal. Practically, it could restore confidence among developers who fear legal retaliation for building tools that enhance user autonomy.

Rodriguez himself remains skeptical. In a recent interview, he pointed to the stark contrast between his situation and that of high-profile crypto figures like Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, whom Trump pardoned in October.

“We’re not CZ. We don't have billions of dollars. We don't have the same type of influence people like that have.”

Still, even the possibility of clemency has elevated the Samourai case into a broader referendum on crypto privacy in the United States.

From an industry perspective, the Samourai Wallet saga represents more than a legal dispute—it is a test of whether the U.S. intends to coexist with crypto’s core principles or reshape them through enforcement.

If developers can be imprisoned for building non-custodial privacy tools, innovation will inevitably migrate offshore, weakening America’s influence over the future of digital finance.

A Trump pardon would not erase regulatory concerns around illicit finance, but it would draw a crucial distinction between criminal misuse and neutral software development. In that sense, clemency for Rodriguez would be less about leniency and more about course correction.

Whether Trump ultimately follows through remains uncertain. But for an industry watching closely, his decision could define whether crypto privacy survives in the U.S.—or continues to be legislated out of existence through the courtroom rather than Congress.