U.S. Government Denies Sale of Forfeited Samourai Wallet Bitcoin, Says BTC Will Remain in Strategic Bitcoin Reserve

Members of the U.S. government have denied reports that bitcoin forfeited by Samourai Wallet developers was liquidated in violation of President Trump’s executive order mandating the retention of government-held bitcoin.

In a brief statement on X on January 16, Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets and Deputy Director at the Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital, said the Department of Justice (DOJ) has confirmed that the forfeited digital assets “have not been liquidated and will not be liquidated” pursuant to Executive Order 14233. 

According to Witt, the bitcoin will remain on the U.S. government’s balance sheet as part of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR).

“We have received confirmation from DOJ that the digital assets forfeited by Samourai Wallet have not been liquidated and will not be liquidated,” Witt said. “They will remain on the USG balance sheet as part of the SBR.”

The clarification follows reporting by Bitcoin Magazine earlier this month that raised questions about whether the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), acting under DOJ direction, had sold approximately 57.55 bitcoin — worth roughly $6.3 million at the time — using Coinbase Prime in November 2025. 

That reporting cited an “Asset Liquidation Agreement” and on-chain data suggesting the forfeited bitcoin may have been transferred directly to a Coinbase Prime address that later showed a zero balance, fueling speculation that the assets had already been sold.

Bitcoins The Samourai BTC will stay in the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve

If true, such a sale would have potentially violated EO 14233, which explicitly states that bitcoin acquired by the U.S. government through criminal or civil forfeiture “shall not be sold” and must instead be retained as part of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. 

The executive order was designed to reverse the long-standing practice of liquidating seized bitcoin and to formally recognize bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset of the United States.

The Samourai Wallet case has been closely watched within Bitcoin and crypto policy circles, not only because of the forfeiture issue but also due to broader concerns about continued prosecutions of developers of noncustodial software. 

Samourai developers Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill pleaded guilty and were charged in 2025 to conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, a charge critics argue is incompatible with the noncustodial nature of the software.

Those concerns have been heightened by what many view as inconsistencies between DOJ actions and guidance issued under the Trump administration, including Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s April 2025 memo calling for an end to “regulation by prosecution” of noncustodial crypto tools, according to Bitcoin journalist Frank Corva. 

If true, the administration’s confirmation that the Samourai bitcoin remains intact and earmarked for the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve will likely be seen as a win for proponents of the bitcoin industry.