The U.S. Marshals Service reportedly sold $6.3 million worth of Bitcoin seized from Samourai Wallet founders, raising legal and political concerns.
Key Takeaways
- The U.S. Marshals Service sold 57.55 BTC linked to Samourai Wallet via Coinbase Prime, despite an executive order prohibiting such sales.
- Executive Order 14233 mandates seized Bitcoin be held in the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, not liquidated.
- Senator Cynthia Lummis and crypto advisors to President Trump have condemned the move, calling for investigation.
- Legal experts question if the DOJ violated both executive policy and its own 2025 internal guidelines that discourage prosecution based on user-end activity.
What Happened?
The United States Marshals Service (USMS) quietly sold approximately 57.55 Bitcoin that had been seized from Samourai Wallet co-founders Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill. The sale, reportedly worth $6.3 million, occurred through Coinbase Prime in early November 2025, raising immediate concerns over whether the transaction violated President Trump’s Executive Order 14233. That order requires all seized Bitcoin to be preserved in a national strategic reserve rather than sold off.
Court records suggest the U.S. Marshals sold 57.5 BTC seized in the Samourai Wallet case via Coinbase Prime in November 2025.
— TFTC (@TFTC21) January 5, 2026
This appears to conflict with Executive Order 14233, which directs forfeited #bitcoin to be held in the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. pic.twitter.com/DiEXY6ZHCw
Fallout Over the Alleged Bitcoin Sale
The coins were part of a plea deal struck between the Samourai Wallet founders and the Department of Justice. Rodriguez and Hill had agreed to forfeit the Bitcoin as part of their guilty plea to charges of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. Internal documents and blockchain data confirmed the Bitcoin was transferred from their custody to a Coinbase Prime wallet.
However, Executive Order 14233, signed in March 2025, explicitly prohibits the sale of any government-held Bitcoin. It directs federal agencies to preserve seized BTC in a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, treating it as a national strategic asset. The order also defines such assets as “Government Digital Assets” and bans their disposal unless under rare exceptions, none of which appear to apply in this case.
Legal scholars and blockchain analysts point out that the relevant laws under which the Bitcoin was seized, including 18 U.S. Code § 982(a)(1) and 31 U.S.C. § 9705, do not mandate liquidation. Critics say this removes any legal justification for selling the digital assets, which were instead swept through Coinbase Prime’s internal system and reportedly dispersed into another brokerage-linked wallet.
Calls for Accountability and Internal Investigation
The sale has drawn criticism from multiple corners of the crypto industry and from lawmakers. Senator Cynthia Lummis, a staunch Bitcoin advocate and co-sponsor of the proposed BITCOIN Act, voiced her concerns on social media, writing:
Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, has also confirmed that the Trump administration is investigating the transaction. While DOJ and USMS officials have yet to publicly confirm the sale, leaked documents referencing an “asset liquidation agreement” support reports of an intentional offload.
The situation has intensified political pressure on the Justice Department, especially in light of Trump’s 2024 campaign promises to end the so-called “war on crypto.” Supporters are now demanding clarification on how such a high-profile sale could happen under his administration’s policies.
Ongoing Legal and Ethical Debate
The Samourai Wallet case has always stirred controversy. It marked one of the first U.S. prosecutions of developers behind non-custodial privacy tools, where users control their own private keys. The wallet’s privacy-enhancing features, such as Whirlpool and CoinJoin, were portrayed by prosecutors as tools that facilitate illicit activity.
Notably, an internal DOJ memo issued in April 2025 by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche advised against targeting tech developers for the actions of their users. The memo, titled “Ending Regulation by Prosecution”, called for restraint in pursuing cases involving decentralized apps and mixing services. However, the Southern District of New York ignored this directive, pressing charges against Rodriguez and Hill as well as Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm.
Federal statistics show that over 90 percent of defendants in criminal cases are convicted, leaving little room for defense strategies. Rodriguez reportedly accepted a plea deal knowing the odds and the reputation of Judge Denise Cote, who is known for issuing harsh sentences.
CoinLaw’s Takeaway
I’ve followed DOJ asset sales before, but this case really hits different. It’s not just about 57 Bitcoin. It’s about whether the government is respecting its own rules when it comes to emerging tech and digital assets. In my experience, once legal lines get blurred in high-stakes crypto cases, it gets a lot harder to restore public trust. If President Trump wants to show he’s serious about ending the war on crypto, this would be the moment to act. The mix of political tension, regulatory inconsistency, and silent Bitcoin transfers could snowball into something bigger if left unchecked.
