Samourai Wallet has been transformed into the Ashigaru Open Source Project

On Sept. 20, a mysterious group of developers announced they performed a hard fork of the Samourai Wallet code and released the first version of a mobile wallet building upon the Samourai team’s work under the new “Ashigaru Open Source Project.”
The project’s
website
states that Ashigaru “develops, releases, and maintains free and open-source software” and promises to develop solutions with a low technical barrier to entry while keeping users secure, shielded from counter-party risk, and private — fully maximizing censorship resistance.


Source:
Burn The Bridge
.
Ashigaru’s developers noted that the project makes “extensive use” of code from the public domain and other crypto projects. In their mission statement, the developers stated:
Little is known about the development team, who identified themselves as “former users of Samourai Wallet” but explained that they had no ties to the Samourai Wallet core development group.
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The arrest of Samourai Wallet developers
In April 2024, Keonne Rodriguez and William Hill, the founders of the Samourai Wallet — a
privacy-enhancing
Bitcoin wallet — were
arrested on money laundering charges
in a case brought by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ).
According to the DOJ, the founders “Executed over $2 billion in unlawful transactions and facilitated more than $100 million in money laundering transactions.” The pair face a maximum sentence of five years in prison if convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business.
As part of the investigation, the FBI seized the Samourai Wallet’s website and servers. Law enforcement officials also forced app stores to remove the Samourai Wallet application.
Rodriguez later
pleaded not guilty
and was released on a $1 million bail bond agreement with the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. However, he must remain within certain geographic boundaries until the conclusion of his case.
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