On November 19, William “Bill” Hill, 67, co-founder of Bitcoin mixing service Samourai Wallet, was sentenced to four years in prison for operating an unlicensed money transmitting business that processed over $237 million in criminal proceeds, according to journalist Frank Corva.  

Hill pleaded guilty in July in the Southern District of New York, admitting that the platform he co-founded was used to conceal illicit funds from activities including drug trafficking, darknet marketplaces, cyber intrusions, fraud, sanctioned jurisdictions, murder-for-hire schemes, and a child pornography website. 

His co-founder, Keonne Rodriguez, received a five-year sentence.

Prosecutors…

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Michael Saylor pushed back on recent reports warning that Strategy could face billions in passive outflows if MSCI excludes the company from major equity indices.

In a statement on X, Saylor said that Strategy is “not a fund, not a trust, and not a holding company.” He described the firm as a publicly traded operating company with a $500 million software business and a unique treasury strategy that uses Bitcoin as productive capital.

Saylor highlighted the company’s recent activity, including five public offerings of digital credit securities — $STRK, $STRF, $STRD, $STRC, and $STRE — representing over $7.7 billion in notional value. 

He also pointed to Stretch…

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Bitcoin price is entering one of its most fragile moments of the cycle. The price action says it. The onchain data screams it. And the mood across crypto feels tense, almost brittle

Bitcoin price fell to a low of $80,524 on Friday, its lowest level since April and a level many didn’t expect to see again this year. The drop pushed the bitcoin price more than 35% below its all-time high, erasing all year-to-date gains and dragging risk sentiment across the entire market with it. 

Since the dip, the Bitcoin price has rebounded to the $84,000 range, showing high volatility across crypto markets. 

Glassnode data shows realized losses spiking to levels last seen during the…

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Bitcoin price has started to show clear signs of weakness, and the recent move back below six figures has forced a reassessment of the near-term outlook. With several important technical and on-chain levels now lost, I have recalibrated my base case so that the probability of retesting new all-time highs in the coming weeks has fallen below 50%. That can change quickly if major levels are reclaimed, but until then, the conditions resemble a market shifting away from trending strength and toward a deeper corrective phase.

Bitcoin Price: Is “Buying The Dip” Still the Right Move?

Bitcoin is already in a sizeable pullback, but buying every decline isn’t always the optimal…

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Growing concerns over privacy and financial surveillance in the crypto sector have pushed the U.S. SEC’s Crypto Task Force to schedule a major roundtable on December 15. The meeting will gather SEC officials and top industry leaders to discuss rising privacy risks across the ecosystem. While no direct policy recommendations are expected, the discussion aims to address shared challenges and highlight the crypto community’s demand for stronger privacy protections.

Recent legal actions have intensified these concerns. The partial guilty verdict for Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm, the sentencing of the Samourai Wallet developer, and sharp gains in privacy-token prices have all renewed calls for safeguarding user anonymity. Advocates like Naomi Brockwell warn that weakened privacy empowers authoritarian abuse, underscoring privacy’s foundational role since the cypherpunk origins of cryptocurrency.

Legal experts say recent prosecutions send a troubling signal to developers building privacy-focused, open-source tools. Responding to backlash, DOJ official Matthew Galeotti clarified that the department will not prosecute developers solely for writing code, emphasizing that innovation should not be criminalized absent malicious intent.

Citi and Swift have completed a landmark trial showing that payments between fiat and digital currencies can be safely and efficiently settled using a new hybrid Payment-versus-Payment (PvP) model. By enhancing Swift’s existing global infrastructure with blockchain connectors, smart contracts, and orchestration tools, the partners demonstrated seamless interoperability between traditional banking systems and Distributed Ledger Technology.

The test used Circle’s USDC tokens on the Ethereum Sepolia testnet to simulate real-world conditions, introducing an escrow mechanism to address the irreversible nature of blockchain transactions. Leaders from both organizations said the successful trial highlights how blockchain can boost speed, transparency, and security for cross-currency settlements while reducing risk.

The initiative marks a major step toward scalable, institutional-grade digital asset solutions as stablecoin use surges worldwide. Citi and Swift plan to refine the model with industry partners to establish unified standards that support the growing demand for efficient fiat-to-digital currency settlement across global financial networks.

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