Wasabi Wallet Suspends US Services Following Samourai Money Laundering Case Worth $100 Million

Developer ZkSNACKs of the privacy-focused Bitcoin wallet Wasabi Wallet has said that, for the time being, its products and platforms will not be accessible to users in the United States.

Many in the cryptocurrency industry have expressed curiosity about the possible link between this action and the recent arrest of the creators of Samourai Wallet.

The website zkSNACKs and its wallet, Wasabi, will be inaccessible to US citizens and residents forever, as announced in a blog post by the company on April 27. In addition to these services and products, the software corporation will deactivate RPC interfaces and application programming interfaces.

Following is the statement: “When people talk about the “United States,” they usually mean all of the states and any territories that are part of it. None of the aforementioned sites, the Wasabi Wallet app, or the coinjoin function are accessible to citizens or permanent residents of the United States. This includes individuals who are U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or passport holders.”

According to the blog post, zkSNACKs cited “recent declarations” made by US officials as the main reason for this decision. The precise news the business was referring to is unclear; however, they are thought to have pulled out of the US market due to the recent arrest of the creators of privacy-focused Samourai Wallet.

Bitcoinist stated that US federal authorities detained William Lonergan Hill and Keonne Rodriguez, co-founders of Samourai Wallet, on charges of conspiring to launder money and operating an unregistered money-transmitting company. The two faced charges related to the laundering of more than $100 million in illicit funds, including monies obtained via the Silk Road and Hydra Market.

Also under regulatory examination from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently was Consensys, maker of the MetaMask wallet. It seems that the financial watchdog is focusing on certain wallet features of MetaMask, such as its staking and swap capabilities.

In addition, ACINQ’s Phoenix Wallet announced not long ago that it would be leaving the US market the month after. Before May 3, 2023, the wallet provider warned US customers to withdraw all assets and empty their wallets.

X user ACINQ said in a post: “The classification of Lightning nodes, self-custodial wallet providers, and Lightning service providers as Money Services Businesses and their subsequent regulation is now in question, according to recent pronouncements by US authorities.”

It is clear that the cryptocurrency sector and privacy-enhancing technologies are facing legislative hurdles and uncertainty, as these self-custody crypto wallets and initiatives leaving the US only serve to emphasise this point.

Also Read: Russia’s Parliament Is Thinking About Getting Involved With Crypto