DEF & BA Publish Amicus Brief in support of the Samourai Wallet Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss the Charges.

On June 6, 2025, DEF and the Blockchain Association published our joint amicus brief in support of the Samourai Wallet defendants’ motion to dismiss the charges. 

While we would have liked to submit this to the court, the Judge denied the defendants’ motion to allow amicus briefs. Despite this, we feel strongly that we need to share our perspective.

In the amicus brief, we explain why Count II of the indictment should be dismissed. One of the central arguments in our brief is that the government’s theory of liability in Count II, alleging the defendants operated an unlicensed money transmitting business, is novel, ill-considered, and in direct contradiction of FinCEN’s 2019 guidance — thus violating the principles of due process and fair notice. 

As we write: “..despite being warned by the agency charged with interpreting money-transmitting provisions that a “no-control-required” theory would be seriously flawed, the Justice Department did not change course. Instead, it charged Count II based on an all-consuming interpretation of §1960 that rejects FinCEN’s control requirement and threatens to criminalize developers of a neutral technology used by individual users to transfer their own funds.”

You can access the amicus brief and dig further into our reasoning at the link below:

Link to Amicus Brief

And, if you want to catch up on the issue quick, the DeFi Education team has previously published a plethora of content explaining the Samourai Wallet case: 

• Prosecuting Privacy: Examining Samourai Wallet, Money Transmitters, and the Criminalization of Innovation (February 2025) 

• Through the Looking Glass: Conceptualizing Control and Analyzing Criminal Liability For Unlicensed Money Transmitting Businesses Under Section 1960 (December 2024)