The decision was likely prompted by the arrest earlier this week of the founders of another privacy-preserving Bitcoin wallet, Samourai.
zkSNACKs, the developer behind the Wasabi Wallet, an open-source Bitcoin wallet which "conjoins" transactions in order to boost privacy, blocked users from the United States from accessing Wasabi Wallet and other services indefinitely.
Users from the U.S. and related territories are now barred, through means of an IP address firewall, from "visiting its websites, downloading and using Wasabi Wallet and any related products and services, including APIs and RPC interfaces," according to the company's announcement, which pointed at "recent announcements by U.S. authorities" for justification.
Though zkSNACKs' announcement was vague, one likely reason for the change in policy was the arrest earlier this week of the two founders of Samourai Wallet, a Bitcoin wallet that similarly included privacy-preserving features that officials characterize as enabling money laundering. The arrest of Samourai's founders also follows the arrest of Tornado Cash's co-founders, a mixing protocol on the Ethereum blockchain. DOJ prosecutors have argued that knowingly profiting from the use of a mixing service by criminals is enough for a money laundering charge, while industry advocacy groups have put forward defenses meant to protect the free-speech rights of open-source developers.
zkSNACKs was not able to be immediately reached for comment. Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry.
Infrastructure Breaking Samourai-Wallet Wallets Wasabi-Wallet Zksnacks
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