According to @AltcoinDaily, President Donald Trump’s crypto Executive Director said the U.S. government has not sold any Bitcoin forfeited by Samourai Wallet and will instead add the coins to a US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Source: Altcoin Daily on X, Jan 16, 2026. For traders, this signals no imminent government disposal from this tranche, reducing expected near-term BTC sell pressure tied to the Samourai case. Source: Altcoin Daily on X, Jan 16, 2026. The update shifts focus to government holdings policy and reserve management as potential drivers of BTC liquidity and price narrative. Source: Altcoin Daily on X, Jan 16, 2026.

According to @EleanorTerrett, Frank Corva stated on X that the SDNY/DOJ sold bitcoin (BTC) forfeited by Samourai Wallet developers as part of their plea deal, rather than holding it, as he claims Executive Order 14233 directs forfeited bitcoin to be kept in the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (source: @EleanorTerrett on X, Jan 5, 2026; source: @frankcorva on X, Jan 5, 2026). Corva further alleges this was not the first instance of SDNY acting contrary to federal guidance in the Samourai case (source: @frankcorva on X, Jan 5, 2026). Neither post provides an accompanying public confirmation or notice from DOJ/SDNY regarding the alleged BTC sale (source: @EleanorTerrett on X, Jan 5, 2026; source: @frankcorva on X, Jan 5, 2026). For traders, the allegation signals potential government-related BTC disposition tied to the Samourai matter; monitoring official DOJ and SDNY communications for confirmation and any asset-disposition details is critical for assessing possible supply flows and headline risk (source: @EleanorTerrett on X, Jan 5, 2026; source: @frankcorva on X, Jan 5, 2026; source: DOJ and SDNY official channels).

According to Eleanor Terrett, President Trump said he will consider a pardon for Samourai Wallet CEO Keonne Rodriguez, stating "I've heard about it, I'll look at it," in Terrett's Dec 15, 2025 post on X, which described Samourai as a privacy-focused Bitcoin (BTC) wallet, citing her post on X. Terrett also asked whether developer @rstormsf would be included, underscoring the potential breadth of any clemency discussion, per the same post on X. The only confirmed development is Trump's stated willingness to review a pardon, as cited by Terrett's X post.

According to @PANewsCN, a New York federal court sentenced Samourai Wallet co-founder Keonne Rodriguez to five years in prison for conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, source: PANews; Bloomberg. Rodriguez had reached a plea deal and, together with another co-founder, agreed to forfeit $237 million in assets and pay a $400,000 fine, source: PANews; Bloomberg. The case involves laundering darknet and scam proceeds through a mixing service, making it a key enforcement development for crypto compliance risk monitoring, source: PANews; Bloomberg. The sources did not specify any immediate market impact, but the ruling formally establishes significant legal penalties and forfeiture exposure tied to mixer operations in the U.S., source: PANews; Bloomberg.

According to @business, a co-founder of cryptocurrency mixer Samourai Wallet was sentenced to five years in prison for operating a business that laundered hundreds of millions of dollars from illegal dark web transactions and fraud schemes, source: Bloomberg @business. According to @business, the case targets a crypto mixing service and is directly relevant to traders monitoring regulatory risk and compliance-driven flows across the digital asset market, source: Bloomberg @business.

According to @jchervinsky, the Samourai Wallet developers have reached a plea deal with the DOJ, providing some relief for the team. However, @jchervinsky highlights concerns over the DOJ's stance that non-custodial software developers are engaged in money transmission, which could have significant implications for other crypto projects and developers. Section 1960 is identified as a major risk to developer freedom, potentially impacting the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem and trading landscape by increasing legal uncertainties for non-custodial wallet providers and related DeFi protocols (source: @jchervinsky).

According to Jake Chervinsky, Samourai Wallet has released a new paper detailing advanced privacy features aimed at enhancing transaction anonymity on the Bitcoin network. This could impact trading strategies by providing users with more secure options for private transactions, potentially influencing market behavior as traders might prefer privacy-centric wallets. Source: Jake Chervinsky on Twitter.