On Thursday, Zksnacks, the developer behind Wasabi Wallet, announced its decision to cease its coinjoin services following regulatory measures in the U.S. The company stated that the wallet will now operate as a standard non-custodial bitcoin wallet without the coinjoin feature.
Zksnacks to Cease Coinjoin Transactions, Affecting Wasabi, Trezor and Btcpay
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Zksnacks Withdraws Coinjoin Feature from Wasabi Wallet
Following intensified regulatory scrutiny in the U.S., Zksnacks has declared the discontinuation of its coordinated coinjoin transactions. “Throughout our history, we have always made efforts to operate under legal clarity,” the company said in a blog post. “At this point, we need to regain more certainty before moving forward.”
Zksnacks also revealed that it will continue to function as a non-custodial wallet capable of generating private keys to manage bitcoin transactions. Wasabi will maintain Tor integration and custom UTXO selection, though it will cease to support coinjoins. Coinjoin technology, a method for users to blend their bitcoins with others’, will no longer be available.
Furthermore, the startup pointed out that this change will affect other wallets that utilize the startup’s coordinated coinjoin tool, including Trezor and Btcpay. The team emphasized that Wasabi Wallet remains a free and open-source protocol, which will continue to be developed and is available for anyone to “even fork it.” Zksnacks concluded that the “day will come when someone will write the code to perfect all the properties of good money.”
The announcement comes on the heels of the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) recent response to the Tornado Cash developers. Additionally, the indictment of the Samourai Wallet founders highlighted that their wallet offered BTC mixing features. It appears that merely exiting the U.S. market wasn’t sufficient for Zksnacks, leading them to completely eliminate the mixing function from their software.
What do you think about Zksnacks ending its coordinated coinjoin feature on Wasabi and with other wallet providers? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
