Wallet of Satoshi stops serving customers in the US

What’s new? Wallet of Satoshi’s developers, a custodial mobile bitcoin wallet, have announced the termination of the service for US customers. The app has been removed from the App Store and Google Play marketplaces in the United States. At the same time, the team assured that existing users retain full access to funds, they can be withdrawn and transferred to another wallet.

Source: Twitter.com

What else is known? Wallet of Satoshi uses the Lightning Network payment protocol, which speeds up bitcoin transactions and allows buying coins directly through the application and paying for purchases with a QR code. The distinctive feature of the wallet is its simple interface, which made it one of the most popular in its segment.

At the same time, the company has repeatedly faced criticism because users are not given full control over their coins, as is the case with non-custodial wallets.

According to the official website, Wallet of Satoshi has processed over 13,68 million transactions.

The probable reason for the company’s departure from the States was the uncertainty in the regulation of the cryptocurrency industry. Crypto firms continue to face enforcement actions and receive lawsuits from regulators, while the overall regulatory framework has yet to be passed by Congress.

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The most high-profile cases this month were a lawsuit against local exchange Kraken for allegedly trading in unregistered securitiesand a settlement of DOJ claims against global platform Binance. The latter resulted in a $4,3 billion fine and the resignation of founder Changpeng Zhao as CEO.

On top of that, Zhao was required to appear in front of a court to announce his sentence for violating AML regulations. The maximum penalty is 18 months imprisonment, given which the Department of Justice demanded that the businessman be banned from leaving the country. In turn, his lawyers rejected the possibility of escape, as it would be followed by legal consequences and reputational losses.

The Wallet of Satoshi team did not give specific reasons for leaving the US but allowed the possibility that future changes would allow it to return to the local market.