Wallet of Satoshi, a wallet provider in the Bitcoin Lightning ecosystem, has removed its mobile app from the Apple and Google app stores in the United States. Following this move, the company announced that it will not be serving customers in the US in its future plans. The Wallet of Satoshi team refrained from providing any specific reason for the decision recently made.
Pressure on the US and Crypto Market
With the developments following the team’s decision, this step has disappointed customers residing in the US and many users have reacted to this process. At the time of writing, the Wallet of Satoshi mobile app is still available for download in other countries. The Bitcoin Lightning app did not forget to assure existing users residing in the US that their funds are accessible, can be withdrawn, and can be transferred to another wallet service.
Users speculated that the app may have been banned in the US as a result of the legal regulatory environment surrounding the crypto market in the country, especially with the recent legal processes against Binance and its former CEO Changpeng Zhao. The timing of this process amidst the congestion on the Lightning Network raised serious questions.
Notable Statement from the Wallet of Satoshi Team
During this process, company officials eliminated doubts by stating that the removal of the app from the app stores was their own decision. John Carvalho, the CEO of Bitcoin software developer Synonym, commented on the process:
“Wallet of Satoshi had to comply with local regulations or laws in ways that it could not or did not want to oppose.”
Company officials expressed their continued optimism about returning to the US in the future in light of possible developments, stating:
“We are hopeful that future developments will allow us to review and possibly continue our operations in the US.”
Wallet of Satoshi is known as one of the most popular Bitcoin Lightning wallets, and it is estimated that it has facilitated over a million Lightning Network payments through its platform in November. However, the company has faced criticism from the crypto community due to the surveillance nature of its application, which maintains control over users’ funds, unlike decentralized solutions that enable users to have full control over their Bitcoin assets.
