Wasabi and Phoenix Leave US

Reading Time: < 1 minute

In response to recent action taken by US regulatory agencies against two major self-custodial cryptocurrency wallet providers, Acinq’s Phoenix Wallet and zkSNACKs‘ Wasabi Wallet are discontinuing services for customers in the United States.

Both companies raised concerns about the legitimacy of self-custodial wallet providers as money service businesses, following the crackdown on Metamask creator Consensys and crypto mixer Samourai Wallet.

In an April 27 statement, zkSNACKs announced that it will strictly prohibit US users from using its services. Similarly, Acinq’s April 26 post on its blog stated that recent announcements from US authorities have raised doubts about the classification and regulation of self-custodial wallet providers, Lightning service providers, and Lightning nodes.

Acinq has given Phoenix Wallet users until May 2 to adjust to the new policy and Wasabi Wallet’s changes were implemented immediately.

Both companies advised their users to transfer their funds out of their wallets, but to avoid “force-closing” them as the associated on-chain fees could be significant.