The arrest of cryptocurrency wallet Samourai Wallet CEO Keonne Rodriguez and CTO William Hilloon by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) led to a crash in the cryptocurrency market on April 24.
According to CoinGecko, within an hour of the arrest, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) fell by $63,571.43, while the price of Ethereum (ETH) dropped to $3,113.54. It's worth noting that this trend was seen across the entire cryptocurrency market. The largest altcoins also saw a collapse, with Dogecoin (DOGE) down to $0.1493, Shiba Inu (SHIB) down to $0.00002491, and Pepe (PEPE) down to $0.000006999.
Moreover, long positions worth $33.08 million in BTC and $29.88 million in ETH were liquidated in the last 12 hours.
Federal prosecutors have arrested the founders of Samurai Wallet. Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill are charged with money laundering and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business. According to a press release issued by the US Department of Justice, the two developed, sold, and operated a mixer that "facilitated over $100 million in money laundering transactions from illicit dark web markets."
Prominent crypto analyst Fred Krueger wrote on his X page that the arrest was bad for Bitcoin.
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At the same time, heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East have also had a negative impact on the cryptocurrency market. On Wednesday, Israel attacked around 40 targets linked to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
However, the high volatility seen after the halving continues in the cryptocurrency market.
The halving of the reward for a block of BTC is already affecting market dynamics, as evidenced by derivative data indicating a reversal to bearish positions.
On the other hand, there are clear signs that the cryptocurrency market is poised for growth. After two days of negative funding rates, Bitcoin experienced a jump in funding rates after halving. In addition, total open interest has increased, indicating a growing bullish sentiment among market participants.
At the time of writing, BTC is trading at $64,348 and ETH at $3,160.
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