Why They Built Samourai Wallet

Today I talk with Keonne Rodriguez, co-founder of Samourai Wallet, who is set to report to prison on December 19 unless he gets a pardon from President Trump… In April 2024, two Bitcoin software developers, Keonne Rodriguez and William "Bill" Lonergan Hill, were violently arrested in their homes in a pre-dawn militarized raid by the FBI for running Samourai Wallet—a non-custodial Bitcoin wallet—despite no prior warnings and full compliance with the law as they and their advisors understood it.

Keonne on X: https://x.com/keonne

GET INVOLVED: https://billandkeonne.org/

SIGN THE PETITION: https://www.change.org/p/stand-up-for-freedom-pardon-the-innocent-coders-jailed-for-building-privacy-tools

DONATE: https://www.givesendgo.com/billandkeonne

They spent the next year and a half in the crippling uncertainty of home arrest, fighting against an adversary with unlimited resources. Keonne was sentenced on November 6, 2025, to the maximum five years in prison, plus an additional fine of $250,000, plus three years of supervised release. Bill was sentenced to four years in prison on November 19, 2025. He will also be responsible for a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release. Both men are facing serious time in jail for writing code that supported the privacy and security of Bitcoin users.

This case exemplifies DOJ overreach through a dangerous legal theory that criminalizes open-source code for legitimate privacy purposes. Developers should not be held liable for bad actors using their software.

PARTNERS & DISCOUNTS:

• BLOCKWARE: Mine Bitcoin, lower your tax bill, and stack sats hands-free with Blockware — get started today at https://mining.blockwaresolutions.com/titcoin and use code “titcoin” to get $100 off your first miner on the Blockware Marketplace.
• LEDN: Bitcoin-backed lending. Go to ledn.io/walker and unlock liquidity WITHOUT selling your bitcoin.
• BLOCKSTREAM JADE: Head to https://store.blockstream.com/ to automatically get 21% off every Blockstream Jade hardware wallet, no code needed, through the end of 2025. Use coupon code WALKER for an extra 10% off!
• Buy Bitcoin with River: http://partner.river.com/walker
• GET FOLD ($10 in bitcoin): https://use.foldapp.com/r/WALKER

JOIN THE SUBSTACK TO GET NEW EPISODES DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX: https://walkeramerica.substack.com/

If you enjoy THE Bitcoin Podcast you can help support the show by doing the following:

FOLLOW ME (Walker) on @WalkerAmerica on X | @TitcoinPodcast on X | Nostr Personal (walker) | Nostr Podcast (Titcoin) | Instagram

Subscribe to THE Bitcoin Podcast (and leave a review) on Fountain | YouTube | Spotify | Rumble | EVERYWHERE ELSE