ACINQ, the company behind Phoenix Wallet, has announced plans to remove the app from U.S. app stores. This means that users in the U.S. will no longer be able to access the wallet from the specified date.
The company has advised its U.S. customers to withdraw their funds without delay. In doing so, they caution against force-closing the wallets, as this could result in higher on-chain fees.
Instead, the company urges its American iOS users to go to the wallet’s settings page and use the “drain wallet” option, while Android users are advised to go to the settings section and use the “close channels” command to safely empty their wallets. The official reason for pulling the wallet from U.S. app stores has not been disclosed.
However, the company’s decision follows legal action against the creators of Samourai, a Bitcoin mixing wallet. Rodriguez and Hill are accused of aiding illegal transactions through Samourai, with potential sentences of up to 20 years in prison for Rodriguez and up to five years for Hill if convicted.
The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that Samourai’s creators allowed over $2 billion in unlawful transactions through the platform, collecting more than $4.5 million in fees since 2015. It is also claimed that Samourai was marketed as a tool for censorship resistance and facilitating illicit activities.
The arrest of Rodriguez was accompanied by a warning from the FBI to users about ‘operations’ on unregistered crypto firms believed to be money services businesses. This crackdown is part of a pattern of U.S. authorities targeting wallets and mixers involved in activities deemed questionable.
Some individuals have compared this situation to punishing the inventor of a knife instead of the one who misuses it, emphasizing that the intent behind using a tool determines its legality.