Samurai wallet has been forked into the open source project Ashigaru

On September 20th, a team of developers announced the launch of Ashigaru's open source project, the Samurai Wallet, a fork of a privacy-focused Bitcoin wallet.

Ashigaru aims to continue developing privacy tools while dealing with limitations imposed by centralized entities following the legal problems faced by Samurai's original development team.

The Case of the Samurai Wallet: Background to Ashigaru's Invention

According to the website, this new project is based on open source principles and focused on decentralized management. The developers of Ashigaru aim to ensure that anyone can participate in secure, anonymous trading.

“We believe that everyone should be able to engage in peaceful, voluntary, and private Internet commerce without surveillance, monitoring, or censorship,” they asserted.

Read more: What is a non-security wallet?

Ashigaru introduces new features and a community-driven approach to making privacy tools accessible in existing regulatory settings. It strives to create tools that allow users to trade securely without relying on a centralized hub or infrastructure.

The developers explain that their software “always maintains a barrier to entry” and remains “non-discriminatory.” They also emphasized that it “never exposes users to the same risk” and provides greater protection for those who spend on the public blockchain.

In addition, the development team implemented several technical improvements. These improvements include the use of Dojo nodes, which allow users to trade directly on the Bitcoin blockchain anonymously.

Samurai decided to pull the wallet in response to legal action against its founders in April 2024. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) charged the founders of Samurai Wallet, including founder Keon Rodriguez, with operating an unauthorized money transfer business and facilitating illegal trade. Transactions. In the lawsuit, the DOJ alleges that the wallet allowed more than $100 million in criminal proceeds to be seized through its services.

Following the arrest of Rodriguez and fellow developer William Lonergan Hill, US authorities seized Samurai's operational infrastructure. This step involves closing the app on the Google Play Store.

Read more: Top Web3 privacy challenges and how to overcome them

At a hearing last week, Rodriguez was denied changes to his bail conditions. The court's ruling came after Rodriguez presented evidence suggesting he had hatched an escape plan.

Rodriguez's legal representatives argued that the memos in question were elements of a broader plan for emergency preparedness. However, prosecutors said they were proof of an escape plan. As a result, Rodriguez remains in custody pending further court proceedings.