The White House has confirmed that the bitcoins confiscated from the developers of Samourai Wallet will remain in the United States’ strategic reserve.
Patrick Witt, the White House’s senior advisor for digital assets, clarified that the bitcoins confiscated in the Samourai Wallet case have not been liquidated and will remain part of the national Bitcoin Strategic Reserve.
Witt, executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, published an update on X after receiving a response from the Department of Justice regarding the case involving Samourai Wallet developers William Lonergan Hill and Keonne Rodriguez.
Earlier this month, Bitcoin Magazine reported that the U.S. Marshals Service was expected to sell more than $6 million worth of bitcoin that Rodriguez and Hill had transferred to the Department of Justice as part of their plea agreement. The report was based on court documents and data indicating a transfer of the funds to a Coinbase Prime address. Such a liquidation would have contradicted the executive order signed by President Donald Trump in March establishing the Bitcoin Strategic Reserve.
The presidential executive order stipulates that the bitcoins in the strategic reserve must come from assets confiscated through criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings. It also clearly specifies that bitcoins deposited into the reserve cannot be sold.
“Government BTC deposited into the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve shall not be sold and shall be maintained as reserve assets of the United States utilized to meet governmental objectives in accordance with applicable law,” the executive order states.
Last November, Samourai developer Keonne Rodriguez was sentenced to five years in prison for operating Samourai with a mixing feature that facilitated the laundering of millions of dollars. Hill, who served as chief technology officer, received a four-year sentence.
