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April

Phoenix

Phoenix Wallet, a Bitcoin wallet provider for Lightning Network payments, has announced its impending removal from US application stores. This development comes as the wallet’s founding company, ACINQ, criticizes the regulation of self-custodial wallets in the US. Related Reading: <a href="https://bitcoinist.com/custodia-to-appeal-denied-access-fed-master-account/" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">Custodia To File Appeal Over Denied Access To Fed Master Account</a> 
<h2 id="strong-phoenix-wallet-terminates-us-services-over-regulatory-discrimination-strong">Phoenix Wallet Terminates US Services Over Regulatory Discrimination</h2> 
On April 26, ACINQ, developers of Phoenix Wallet, <a href="https://x.com/acinq_co/status/1783878732865740940" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">expressed</a> disappointment on the non-inclusion of self-custodial wallet providers, Lightning service providers, and Lightning nodes as money services businesses. ACINQ’s statement was driven by a recent announcement by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, which cautioned users against engaging in unregistered crypto money-transmitting businesses. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"> 
 Recent announcements from US authorities cast a doubt on whether self-custodial wallet providers, Lightning service providers, or even Lightning nodes could be considered Money Services Businesses and be regulated as such. 
 — ACINQ (@acinq_co) <a href="https://twitter.com/acinq_co/status/1783878732865740940?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">April 26, 2024</a>
</blockquote> 
The US authorities specifically highlighted self-custodial wallets, which require no know-your-customer procedure, as the primary type of such money-transmitting services. Following the initial message, ACIQN has now<a href="https://x.com/acinq_co/status/1783878735168507972" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow"> announced</a> the removal of the Phoenix wallet app from all US application stores on May 3rd, 2024.&nbsp; 
In preparation. Phoenix Wallet has advised US-based users to empty their wallets. They also advised not to “force-close” channels to avoid significant on-chain fees. Through an&nbsp; <a href="https://twitter.com/PhoenixWallet/status/1783878658014249027" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">X post</a>,&nbsp; Phoenix released specific instructions for users: should empty their wallets by going to ‘Settings’ and selecting ‘Close Channels’ on Android devices or ‘Drain Wallet’ on iOS devices. 
Alongside ACIQN, zkSNACKs has also<a href="https://bitcoinist.com/wasabi-wallet-disables-services-following-samourai/" target="_blank" rel="noopener "> banned</a> US citizens from accessing its Wasabi crypto wallet and all associated products and services. While the crypto company didn’t give a specific reason for such action, they highlighted “recent announcements by US authorities” to be a contributing factor to their decision.&nbsp; 
However, it remains to see if these recent voluntary exits could trigger a massive exodus of crypto businesses from the US which is continuously criticized for lacking a clear regulatory framework for the nascent industry. 
With the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) constant crackdown on crypto exchanges and the Department of Justice <a href="https://bitcoinist.com/breaking-samourai-wallet-co-founders-arrested/" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">now going after developers</a> over the misuse of their platforms by sanctioned entities, crypto enthusiasts can only seek the immediate legislative intervention of the US Congress. 
<h2 id="strong-crypto-market-overview-strong">Crypto Market Overview</h2> 
In other news, the cryptocurrency market <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/charts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">has performed well</a> in the last day, gaining by 2.70% to attain a market cap of $2.38 trillion. Notably, Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) lead the way among the top 10 largest tokens, with daily gains of 6.20% and 5.34%, respectively.&nbsp; Meanwhile, Bitcoin, which ranks as the world’s most valuable digital asset, now trades at $63,855 having also risen by 1.46% within the same time frame. 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter" src="https://www.tradingview.com/x/cdJT1Z8A/" alt="Phoenix wallet" width="1480" height="893">Total crypto market cap valued at $2.314 trillion | Source:<a href="https://www.tradingview.com/chart/xg17RJqK/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow"> TOTAL chart on Tradingview.com</a>

Phoenix Wallet To Disable Services In the US – Here’s Why

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