Samourai Wallet, feds ask for time to mull dropping crypto mixer case
US federal prosecutors and the co-founders of the crypto mixer Samourai Wallet have asked a court for more time to consider potentially dismissing the case after the Justice Department rolled back its crypto enforcement.
Lawyers for Samourai Wallet CEO Keonne Rodriguez and chief technology officer William Hill said in an April 28 letter to Manhattan federal judge Richard Berman that they jointly requested with the government “for a continuance of the pretrial motions schedule by 16 days.”
The Samourai executives’ lawyers said on April 10 that they wrote to Acting Manhattan US Attorney Jay Clayton to request the dismissal of the case after an April 7 memo from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche shuttered the Justice Department’s crypto team.
“On April 24, 2025, defense counsel met with the prosecutors and their supervisors in person at the U.S. Attorney’s Office to discuss this request,” the lawyers said.
“The Defendants believe that a continuance of the pretrial motions schedule is warranted to permit Defendants to avoid the significant expense of preparing their motions while the Government determines its position,” the letter stated.
It added that prosecutors agreed to adjourn “without expressing any views on the merits.”
Samourai Wallet’s Rodriguez and Hill were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business in April 2024, to which they both pleaded not guilty.
Blanche’s memo said, “The Department of Justice is not a digital assets regulator,” and it would abandon enforcement and investigations besides those which “focus on prosecuting individuals who victimize digital asset investors, or those who use digital assets in furtherance of criminal offenses.”
Currently, motions in the Samourai executives’ case are due May 13, responses are due on June 10, and replies on June 24. The letter proposes to put this back to May 29 for motions, June 26 for responses, and July 10 for replies.
The continuance would not affect the trial date, which is slated for early November.
Quashing crypto litigation list lengthens
The move is the latest in a long list of court actions to have prosecutors’ crypto cases quashed under the Trump administration’s favorable stance toward the industry.
Related: SEC says it won’t re-file fraud case against Hex’s Richard Heart
On April 9, SafeMoon CEO Braden John Karony, who is charged with wire fraud and money laundering, cited Blanche’s directive in a bid to get his case dismissed.
Meanwhile, on April 28, the DeFi Education Fund petitioned the White House to drop charges against Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm and requested immediate action to “discontinue the Biden-era Department of Justice’s lawless campaign to criminalize open-source software development.”
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Acting Chair of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Caroline Pham is in talks with regulated US crypto exchanges to launch leveraged spot crypto products as early as next month.
In a Sunday X post, Pham confirmed that she is pushing to allow leveraged spot crypto trading in the US and that she is in talks with regulated US crypto exchanges to launch leveraged crypto spot products next month.
Pham also confirmed that she continued meeting with industry representatives despite the government shutdown. The regulator is also currently considering issuing guidance for leveraged spot crypto products.
The news comes after the CFTC launched an initiative in early August to enable the trading of “spot crypto asset contracts” on exchanges registered with the regulator. In an announcement at the time, Pham invited comment on the rules that governed “retail trading of commodities with leverage, margin, or financing.”
According to the Federal Register, the Commodity Exchange Act “provides that a retail commodity transaction entered into with a retail person which is executed on a leveraged or margined basis” is “subject to the Commission’s jurisdiction, unless the transaction results in actual delivery of the commodity within 28 days of the transaction.” Consequently, leveraged crypto spot positions would only be allowed if their duration were limited to 28 days or they would be illegal.
Related: Republican Senator Says There’s a Small Time Frame for Passing Crypto Bill
Crypto pushes forward despite shutdown
A US government shutdown occurs when Congress fails to pass an annual spending bill or a short-term continuing resolution, blocking much of the federal government’s spending. In such situations, non-essential services are paused, some workers are furloughed, and others work without pay.
The current shutdown started on Oct. 1. However, Sunday reports suggest that the shutdown is likely nearing its end as the Senate moves to consider a continuing resolution to fund the government.
Related: Michael Selig Confirms CFTC Nomination, but Questions Linger
The report follows speculation about the impact of the government shutdown on progress in US crypto regulation. Early October reports noted that the SEC began its shutdown by announcing that it would “not engage in ongoing litigation,” except for emergency cases.
Despite this, at the end of October, many US senators reportedly moved to advance a bill on crypto market structure rules, despite the shutdown. Reports from earlier this month also suggest that meetings on the bill are still taking place in the US Senate despite the shutdown.
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The United Kingdom’s central bank is moving toward stablecoin regulation by publishing a consultation paper proposing a regulatory framework for the asset class.
The Bank of England (BoE) on Monday released a proposed regulatory regime for sterling-denominated “systemic stablecoins,” or tokens it said are widely used in payments and therefore potentially pose risks to the UK financial stability.
Under the proposal, the central bank would require stablecoin issuers to back at least 40% of their liabilities with unremunerated deposits at the BoE, while allowing up to 60% in short-term UK government debt.
The consultation paper seeks feedback on the proposed regime until Feb. 10, 2026, with the BoE planning to finalize the regulations in the second half of the year.
Holding limits, backing and oversight
As part of the proposal, the central bank suggested capping individual stablecoin holdings at 20,000 British pounds ($26,300) per token, while allowing exemptions from the proposed 10,000 pound ($13,200) for retail businesses.
“We propose that issuers implement per-coin holding limits of 20,000 GBP for individuals and 10 million pounds for businesses,” the BoE stated, adding that businesses could qualify for exemptions if higher balances are needed in the course of normal operations.
Regarding stablecoin backing, the BoE suggested that issuers that are considered systemically important could be allowed to hold up to 95% of their backing assets in UK government debt securities as they scale.
Related: Bank of England pledges to keep pace with US on stablecoin regulations
“The percentage would be reduced to 60% once the stablecoin reaches a scale where this is appropriate to mitigate the risks posed by the stablecoin’s systemic importance without impeding the firm’s viability,” it added.
The BoE noted that His Majesty’s Treasury determines which stablecoin payment systems and service providers are deemed systemically important. Once designated, these systems would fall under the proposed regime and the BoE’s supervision.
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