The dramatic arrest of the Bitcoin founders of Samourai Wallet by the US Department of Justice has caused shock in the crypto community.
On April 24, the cryptocurrency market experienced a brief dip after the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the arrest of the Bitcoin founders of Samourai Wallet.
The arrest, which came amid ongoing Middle East tensions and post-halving volatility, sent Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) prices up 3.6% and 2,000 respectively within an hour of the announcement. 51% fell. Samourai Wallet CEO Keonne Rodriguez and Chief Technology Officer William Hill each face one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transfer business.
The news triggered a sharp decline in Bitcoin price, which fell below key support levels to $63,710 before recovering slightly to $64,546. Ether, on the other hand, failed to recover and fell further to $3,158.
Major altcoins also saw brief declines: PEPE saw a 6.4% decline, Shiba Inu (SHIB) saw a 2.7% decline, and Dogecoin (DOGE) briefly lost 3.2%. The sharp price decline of the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization triggered widespread liquidation of long positions. Coinglass data shows that Bitcoin liquidated $33.08 million worth of long positions and Ether liquidated $29.88 million in the last 12 hours.
The crypto community is largely anticipating some short-term volatility following the Bitcoin halving, which occurred just days earlier on April 20th. Nevertheless, price performance after the event was disappointing and even fees on the network fell.
An attack on privacy
Despite the fluctuations, overall investor sentiment in the crypto market remains positive. The Fear & Greed Index has a “Greed” score of 72, up 15 points from the previous week. However, the crypto community has criticized the recent arrests and fears that it could be another attempt by the US government to crack down on crypto. Some analysts and commentators expressed concerns about the potential impact on Bitcoin and transaction privacy.
The developers of Samourai were arrested this morning.
One was extradited from Portugal.
Samourai is a Bitcoin wallet that makes Bitcoin private.
These developers face up to 25 years in prison for writing code.
The USA is sending a message.
No transaction will be private. pic.twitter.com/GupLtMuHD8
– RYAN SΞAN ADAMS – rsa.eth 🦄 (@RyanSAdams) April 24, 2024