Recently, a piece of news has sparked considerable attention within the crypto community. Some organizations are speaking out for two crypto wallet developers, hoping to secure a last-minute turnaround.

Here’s what happened: Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill are the developers behind Samourai Wallet. They were prosecuted for operating an unlicensed money transmission service and ultimately received sentences of five and four years, respectively. As scheduled, they are to report to serve their sentences in January next year.

However, there’s now a twist—the Bitcoin Policy Institute has stepped in, making a direct appeal to the current President, hoping for leniency and a chance at a pardon for the two. After all, in the eyes of many cryptocurrency supporters, the classification of this type of case has always been controversial. Should privacy tools really be treated as money laundering tools? This question will likely remain contentious for some time.

Whether they’ll succeed remains uncertain, but it highlights one thing: the tug-of-war between regulation and innovation is always a sensitive topic in this industry.