365Crypto
Samourai Wallet Forked Into ‘Ashigaru’ Project
In April 2024, the founders of Samourai Wallet, Keonne Rodriguez and William Hill, were arrested on charges of money laundering. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) accused them of facilitating over $2 billion in illegal transactions, including $100 million in money laundering. If convicted, they could face up to five years in prison. As part of the investigation, the FBI seized Samourai Wallet’s website and app, halting its operation.
The Emergence of Ashigaru
On September 20, 2024, a group of developers announced the creation of “Ashigaru,” a new open-source project built from the Samourai Wallet code. The Ashigaru team promises to maintain the privacy features of Samourai, using tools like CoinJoin to shield users from tracking and surveillance. The goal is to provide a secure, user-friendly wallet that maximizes censorship resistance while maintaining privacy.
Privacy at the Core
Ashigaru’s developers emphasize the importance of privacy, stating that anyone should be able to conduct private and voluntary transactions without fear of surveillance or censorship. The project builds on public domain code and contributions from other cryptocurrency projects, aiming to provide accessible tools for private commerce online.
Though the developers describe themselves as former users of Samourai Wallet, they have no direct ties to the original development team. Ashigaru’s mission is to carry forward the privacy ethos that Samourai embodied, even in the face of regulatory scrutiny.
