Rodriguez has been ordered to pay a $250,000 fine, while Hill faces a fine of $400,000. In total, $237 Million will be forfeited to the Government. Sentencing for Rodriguez is set for November 6th, while Hill will be sentenced on November 7th. Both are facing a maximum of 5 years in prison, with 3 years of supervised release. Rodriguez has been allowed to go home, but is under curfew. Hill, who currently resides in Portugal, may not leave the US, and his passport has been confiscated.

"A mixer like Samourai that does not take custody of the cryptocurrency by possessing the private keys would strongly suggest that Samourai is not acting as an MSB [Money Service Business]," FinCEN responded. In internal emails, prosecutors additionally described the unlicensed money transmission charges as "a difficult argument to make for us."

The Government argued in turn that FinCEN's views on Samourai Wallet were irrelevant, as the prosecution had dropped the federal licensing violation in the case. The dropping of federal licensing violations followed a memo issued by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in April, which specified that cryptocurrency mixers should not be charged for licensing violations.

The decision to drop federal licensing violations was welcomed by the cryptocurrency community, but may have done the developers more harm than good, as much of the defense's case relied on unclear interpretations of FinCEN guidance. With FinCEN out of the picture, the argument that the law has been unclear as to money transmission guidance for cryptocurrency developers turned invalid.

But the developers continued to be charged under another part of money transmission law, which criminalizes the knowing transmission of illicit proceeds, to which the two now plead guilty. While the developer's guilty plea may not set case law precedent, it will surely affect legislative efforts to keep non-custodial software developers safe from being charged with money transmission violations overall.