Phoenix Wallet to be removed from US app stores

[NotATether]

Just when you thought the fallout from Samourai Wallet's demise couldn't get any worse, here we are again with news from last night that apparently, Phoenix Wallet is planning to cut off all their US app users.



Phoenix Wallet is not just a Bitcoin Wallet, it is also a Lightning Wallet, and that is a big problem since Phoenix Wallet opens the channels for you, which also means that those channels are soon going to be cut (or in Lightning Network jargon "closed").

[un_rank]

The U.S is one of, if not the biggest bitcoin market today. With the clampdown on mixers, miners, privacy channels and now anything that allows you stay under the grid without KYCing, it is now more important to take your privacy very serious.

Those in the U.S should consider if there is a legal channel to kickback against this policies and the entire bitcoin community needs to start getting more innovative in creating and also promoting softwares that are 100% decentralized and support privacy.

- Jay -

[ABCbits]

Looks like they're in a hurry, since there's only a week between the notice and removal. I don't use this wallet, but i certainly hope those who use Phoenix Wallet receive notification on device they use. I wonder if they protect themselves against this notice, https://www.ic3.gov/Media/Y2024/PSA240425 where they could get caught if FBI use loose/wide definition of Money Services Businesses (MSB).

[Husna QA]

I see dkbit98 also created a similar thread discussing information about Phoenix Wallet planning to remove the app from the Android and iOS app stores here:
https://www.altcoinstalks.com/index.php?topic=320789.0

Looks like they're in a hurry, since there's only a week between the notice and removal. I don't use this wallet, but i certainly hope those who use Phoenix Wallet receive notification on device they use. I wonder if they protect themselves against this notice, https://www.ic3.gov/Media/Y2024/PSA240425 where they could get caught if FBI use loose/wide definition of Money Services Businesses (MSB).

So far, no notifications have appeared from the Phoenix wallet (iOS version) that I use. I don't know whether users from the US get this notification through the application or not.

[PX-Z]

I feel like my country will follow what US has been started, as its "fighting" for anti-money laundering on their very own terms. For now unregulated CEX were already banned and blocked, together with its apps on playstore and appstore (soon) is currently requesting to removed as well.

[Aanuoluwatofunmi]

Just when you thought the fallout from Samourai Wallet's demise couldn't get any worse, here we are again with news from last night that apparently, Phoenix Wallet is planning to cut off all their US app users.



Phoenix Wallet is not just a Bitcoin Wallet, it is also a Lightning Wallet, and that is a big problem since Phoenix Wallet opens the channels for you, which also means that those channels are soon going to be cut (or in Lightning Network jargon "closed").

I don't know why US government are just clamping on Bitcoin a d it's users, was it because they are unable to regulate the whole idea behind a decentralized network or this is just an internal issues they have developed with Phoenix wallet team or developers, honestly we can't keep on seeing the way attacks upon attacks like this will continue till we have nothing left to enjoy about the use of bitcoin, just as the had on mixers, do they want us not to achieve our main goals with bitcoin by coming in different dimensions for attacks on bitcoin users.

[Stompix]

Phoenix Wallet is not just a Bitcoin Wallet, it is also a Lightning Wallet, and that is a big problem since Phoenix Wallet opens the channels for you, which also means that those channels are soon going to be cut (or in Lightning Network jargon "closed").

I don't think most users are ging to close them.
It an app becoming unavailable in a store, it's not like suddenly is illegal to use it, if you have it installed you can still do so until it becomes banned and it would be a crime to do so, theoretically you can still install even samurai wallet right now if you have the source code, it's not a punishable offense.

Phoenix is just trying to keep themselves safe, they have a good business going around and jail time when you're making a few hundred thousand is not really attractive, nor is giving away all that money inflow!

What is going to happen with ACINQ channels and even with them, after all they might not be based in the US but still in the EU, so this will be just a breather.

[joniboini]

was it because they are unable to regulate the whole idea behind a decentralized network or this is just an internal issues they have developed with Phoenix wallet team or developers,

I believe there are other wallets that you can use, and as far as I can see there's no crackdown on wallet developers that don't provide a form of privacy techniques on their wallet like coinjoin. The target is to make any privacy tools inaccessible or to allow some backdoors for the government so they can access the logs and track the money that goes through a service provider. I don't think this is new, and any developer who doesn't openly promote their software as a privacy tool should be safe. But yeah, closing down services to avoid any potential issue is also understandable. CMIIW.

[armanda90]

Its not much problem with Phoenix Wallet take down or removing from US app store because many wallet of bitcoin platform are available right now. Its become permanent removing and US government not giving regulation yet for Phoenix Wallet or not? usually if some bitcoin wallet removing from US app store get problem with regulation or US government indicate with bad thing about Phoenix Wallet and has reason removing from US app stores.
The same in my country with Binance had removing from app stores but get access trough website link open exchange Binance indeed in app store have removed it.

[SamReomo]

That's the worst move by Phoenix Wallet because if they're removing their apps from the US app stores then they're directly giving a message to the community about their wrong practices. I know they're doing that to be safe from the sanctions of US authorities but that's not the right way to do something like that.

Most of the users might end up leaving that wallet after hearing that news and that's going to cause them to lose a large number of users. I know US is getting aggressive about crypto platforms that support privacy but giving up on US market isn't going to save any good service.

[Mr. Magkaisa]

Just when you thought the fallout from Samourai Wallet's demise couldn't get any worse, here we are again with news from last night that apparently, Phoenix Wallet is planning to cut off all their US app users.



Phoenix Wallet is not just a Bitcoin Wallet, it is also a Lightning Wallet, and that is a big problem since Phoenix Wallet opens the channels for you, which also means that those channels are soon going to be cut (or in Lightning Network jargon "closed").

          -   Just the other day, I read an article saying that the Samourai wallet(https://cryptoadventure.com/u-s-doj-cracks-down-on-samourai-wallet-for-alleged-money-laundering/) seems to be in trouble and is about to close, or is closing, if I'm not mistaken, and now it's the Phoenix wallet that the US is looking at. It seems to be true that the US is closing down the app wallets one by one.

This is not good for us crypto believers, to be honest. Everything that is of no use to the US government is actually being dispatched because they want to benefit themselves and don't care if it helps the citizens under their jurisdiction or not.

[TomPluz]

This is not good for us crypto believers, to be honest. Everything that is of no use to the US government is actually being dispatched because they want to benefit themselves and don't care if it helps the citizens under their jurisdiction or not.

A move like this is not good for the cryptocurrency industry and the many small users of this particular wallet in question. This is what we are getting when the government is exerting its legal and regulatory power to run after platforms and people whom it think is doing something against the law. And when you are just a small developer, you would naturally get nervous of the things that can happen to you in case a case can be filed in court just like what recently happened with Samourai Wallet where its two founders are facing money laundering raps. After after this Phoenix Wallet story, I am there can be more and many of them will either be closing down or shrinking their operation to avoid the lawfare waged by the government on privacy-protecting platforms that can hinder them from looking at all the things people are into. After the saga of Bitcoin Fog, Tornado Cash, Samourai Wallet, we are witnessing this development in Phoenix Wallet where its wings are clipped to effectively make it an inutile one.

[0t3p0t]

Just when you thought the fallout from Samourai Wallet's demise couldn't get any worse, here we are again with news from last night that apparently, Phoenix Wallet is planning to cut off all their US app users.



Phoenix Wallet is not just a Bitcoin Wallet, it is also a Lightning Wallet, and that is a big problem since Phoenix Wallet opens the channels for you, which also means that those channels are soon going to be cut (or in Lightning Network jargon "closed").

I don't know why US government are just clamping on Bitcoin a d it's users, was it because they are unable to regulate the whole idea behind a decentralized network or this is just an internal issues they have developed with Phoenix wallet team or developers, honestly we can't keep on seeing the way attacks upon attacks like this will continue till we have nothing left to enjoy about the use of bitcoin, just as the had on mixers, do they want us not to achieve our main goals with bitcoin by coming in different dimensions for attacks on bitcoin users.

Maybe because of "control" I mean they want everything within their regulations. They only problem here is that my country will follow such move just like what had happened to Binance. Though I am not using Phoenix wallet but things like this is quite alarming as we might lose decentralization one day just because of action like this.

[NotATether]

          -   Just the other day, I read an article saying that the Samourai wallet(https://cryptoadventure.com/u-s-doj-cracks-down-on-samourai-wallet-for-alleged-money-laundering/) seems to be in trouble and is about to close, or is closing, if I'm not mistaken, and now it's the Phoenix wallet that the US is looking at. It seems to be true that the US is closing down the app wallets one by one.

So far, it doesn't look like the US government is interested in going after Phoenix Wallet at all. This is simply a precautionary measure the team has taken in order to avoid the same fate as Samourai wallet. Whether or not that will actually work in the end is up for debate.

However, they would definitely like to pick off the crypto wallets from the app stores one by one if they could. As if anyone even stores large amounts of crypto in a mobile phone 

[Power420]

Was playing around with the new API from @PhoenixWallet and ended up creating an npm package to easily tap into the Phoenix server's API/WS. It works like a charm! Here's a sneak peek showing how you can access all the methods straight out of the box!
github.com/MiguelMedeiros…
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