Phoenix Wallet, a non-custodial Bitcoin lightning wallet, has announced that it’s being removed from US-based app stores and encouraged users to make sure to empty their wallets.
This decision seems to have been made by ACINQ, the company behind Phoenix Wallet, which stated in a tweet that “recent announcements from US authorities cast a doubt on whether self-custodial wallet providers, Lightning service providers, or even Lightning nodes could be considered Money Services Businesses and be regulated as such.”
Recently, the founders of Bitcoin mixing wallet Samourai were indicted in the Southern District of New York under allegations that they facilitated illegal transactions, including laundered funds.
This was followed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation issuing a warning in which it informed users that it had begun ‘operations’ on a variety of unregistered crypto firms that it believed were money services businesses and told users that they may experience ‘financial disruptions.’
These latest crackdowns follow a long history of US authorities pursuing wallets and mixers. This has included sanctioning addresses used for Tornado Cash, convicting the operator of the Bitcoin Fog mixer, and many others.