“Reserve or release? $6.3M Bitcoin puts DOJ in the hot seat.”
U.S. prosecutors are under further scrutiny after reports surfaced that approximately $6.3 million in Bitcoin was sold despite an executive order prohibiting such transactions. The action has drawn attention to the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and elicited heated responses from the cryptocurrency community.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) and federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) are accused of selling about 101 Bitcoins that were seized in the Samourai Wallet case.
Executive Order 14233, which President Donald Trump signed on March 6, 2025, seems to be in odds with this sale. All Bitcoin acquired through federal forfeitures must be kept in the national Bitcoin reserve and cannot be sold, according to the order.
The Bitcoin in question originated from a request agreement between William Lonergan Hill and Keonne Rodriguez, the founders of Samourai Wallet. The two agreed to lose 101.213 BTC to the US authorities in exchange for entering a guilty plea to running an unauthorised money-transmitting business.
The U.S. Marshals Service subsequently moved and sold this Bitcoin in late 2025, according to blockchain records.
The Samourai case conflict is returning as a result of this development. Defence attorneys have before accused prosecutors of hiding important FinCEN guidelines that implied non-custodial wallet providers would not be considered money transmitters.
Serious concerns over loyalty to the executive order and the legitimacy of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve which is thought to contain close to 210,000 BTC have been raised by the purported Bitcoin transaction. Lawmakers may intervene, but community leaders and cryptocurrency specialists are increasingly demanding accountability.
The goal of a proposed measure, H.R. 3798, is to make the executive order a permanent law and stop future acts of this kind.
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