Heather “Razurkan” Morgan, one of the Bitfinex hackers, expressed gratitude to President Trump for his release. She was released with little fanfare a few days ago during a more famous pardon.
The community is in turmoil. Even if Trump is trading pardons for bribes, what can she actually offer him? However, President Trump’s desire to keep the BTC seized from hackers could be key.
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Trump releases Razulkan
President Trump’s decision last week to pardon former Binance CEO CZ shocked and polarized the Web3 industry.
However, one thing this act did was also steal the spotlight from other acts of crypto tolerance. Heather “Razulcan” Morgan, one of the famous Bitfinex hackers, expressed gratitude to President Trump for his early release.
In a recent video shot from his bathtub, Razulkan said he “expressed gratitude to Papa Trump” for reducing his sentence. She was scheduled to serve 18 months in prison for money laundering, most of which has already been completed.
Apparently, her release date was supposed to be January 2026 before Trump’s intervention.
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Why release her?
This act of generosity perplexed the community. Razulkan may be a notorious cryptocurrency personality, but there is no clear reason for Trump to commute her sentence. CZ had business ties to the president and Ulbricht had community support, but what does Razulkan have?
After all, SBF has served time in prison despite his stature, and his extensive political contributions have largely been against Trump.
Even assuming that the president is granting leniency to cryptocurrencies based purely on personal favor and corruption, it is difficult to see any clear benefit to the president. Her release received so little attention that it wasn’t even a PR stunt.
Possible Bitcoin Reserve Connection
President Trump has proposed creating a “cryptocurrency strategic reserve” similar to the U.S. oil reserve to strengthen the nation’s cryptocurrency holdings. However, if the government were to compensate Bitfinex victims, more than $10 billion in Bitcoin could be lost from that pool.
By portraying Razulkan’s prosecution as an overreach in crypto enforcement during the Biden administration, the Trump administration could justify continuing to hold seized BTC as state property.
However, to be clear, this is speculation. Mr. Trump has a significant interest in preserving the seized Bitfinex assets, and Mr. Razulkan is just one piece of that puzzle. If there is a plan to hold this BTC, it is in the early stages.
Still, President Trump’s crypto amnesty has caused significant confusion. If blatant criminals are left unchecked and continue to reopen, they could cause irreparable damage.
