The post Samourai Wallet founders risk five-year term after pleading guilty to laundering charges appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Samourai Wallet founders could be looking at a five-year prison term as U.S. prosecutors have pushed for maximum sentencing for their alleged roles in operating a crypto mixing service used to launder hundreds of millions in illicit funds. Summary Samourai Wallet founders can face a five-year prison term for their roles in operating an unlicensed money transmitter. The sentencing has been scheduled for Nov. 6. Prosecutors claim the pair marketed Samourai to darknet users and earned over $6.3 million in fees from illicit activity. A sentencing memorandum filed with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said the founders, William Lonergan Hill and Keonne Rodriguez, “repeatedly solicited, encouraged, and invited criminals” to use the platform, ultimately turning Samourai Wallet into a “haven for criminals to engage in large-scale money laundering and sanctions evasion.” “Rodriguez and Hill were not mere bystanders to the money laundering conducted through Samourai; they affirmatively wanted criminals to use Samourai to commit money laundering and marketed Samourai accordingly,” the filing said. Prosecutors cited a 2018 WhatsApp message in which Rodriguez described mixing as “money laundering for bitcoin,” implying that the founders had been fully aware of how their tools were being used.  Hill, according to the filing, took to dark web forums like Dread to pitch Samourai’s Whirlpool service, telling users it could help “clean dirty BTC” and make their transactions “untraceable.” “Through Samourai, Rodriguez and Hill earned millions of dollars in fees by laundering the proceeds of drug trafficking, darknet marketplaces (including multiple murder-for-hire solicitations and the distribution of child sexual abuse materials), cyber intrusions and frauds, sanctions evasion, and other criminal activities,” the filing added. Estimates in the filing suggest Samourai Wallet managed to solicit over $6.3 million in fees from their mixing services between 2015 and 2024, equivalent to… The post Samourai Wallet founders risk five-year term after pleading guilty to laundering charges appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Samourai Wallet founders could be looking at a five-year prison term as U.S. prosecutors have pushed for maximum sentencing for their alleged roles in operating a crypto mixing service used to launder hundreds of millions in illicit funds. Summary Samourai Wallet founders can face a five-year prison term for their roles in operating an unlicensed money transmitter. The sentencing has been scheduled for Nov. 6. Prosecutors claim the pair marketed Samourai to darknet users and earned over $6.3 million in fees from illicit activity. A sentencing memorandum filed with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said the founders, William Lonergan Hill and Keonne Rodriguez, “repeatedly solicited, encouraged, and invited criminals” to use the platform, ultimately turning Samourai Wallet into a “haven for criminals to engage in large-scale money laundering and sanctions evasion.” “Rodriguez and Hill were not mere bystanders to the money laundering conducted through Samourai; they affirmatively wanted criminals to use Samourai to commit money laundering and marketed Samourai accordingly,” the filing said. Prosecutors cited a 2018 WhatsApp message in which Rodriguez described mixing as “money laundering for bitcoin,” implying that the founders had been fully aware of how their tools were being used.  Hill, according to the filing, took to dark web forums like Dread to pitch Samourai’s Whirlpool service, telling users it could help “clean dirty BTC” and make their transactions “untraceable.” “Through Samourai, Rodriguez and Hill earned millions of dollars in fees by laundering the proceeds of drug trafficking, darknet marketplaces (including multiple murder-for-hire solicitations and the distribution of child sexual abuse materials), cyber intrusions and frauds, sanctions evasion, and other criminal activities,” the filing added. Estimates in the filing suggest Samourai Wallet managed to solicit over $6.3 million in fees from their mixing services between 2015 and 2024, equivalent to…

                                                                               Canada’s government unveiled a plan to regulate stablecoins, requiring fiat-backed issuers to maintain sufficient reserves and adopt robust risk management measures.                     Canada is set to introduce legislation regulating fiat-backed stablecoins under its federal budget for 2025, following the footsteps of the US, which passed landmark stablecoin laws in July.Stablecoin issuers will be required to hold sufficient reserves, establish redemption policies and implement various risk management frameworks, including measures to protect personal and financial data, according to the government’s 2025 budget released on Tuesday.The Bank of Canada would allocate $10 million over two years, starting in the 2026-2027 fiscal year, to ensure everything runs smoothly, followed by an estimated $5 million in annual costs that will be offset from stablecoin issuers regulated under the Retail Payment Activities Act.Read more