Wallet of Satoshi, the wallet provider for the Bitcoin Lightning ecosystem, has removed its mobile application from Apple and Google app stores in the US. Following this move, the company announced that it will no longer be providing services to customers in the US in the future. The Wallet of Satoshi team refrained from providing a specific reason for their decision.
US users were disappointed by this step and many users expressed their dissatisfaction. At the time of writing, the Wallet of Satoshi mobile app continued to be available for download in other countries. The app assured existing users in the US that their funds would remain accessible, withdrawable, and transferable to another wallet service.
Users speculated that the app may have been banned due to regulatory environment in the US and especially in light of the recent legal proceedings against Binance and its former CEO Changpeng Zhao. This move during the congestion in the Lightning Network raised serious questions.
Company officials dispelled doubts by stating that the removal of the app from the stores was their own decision. John Carvalho, the CEO of Synonym, commented on the process and said that Wallet of Satoshi had to comply with local regulations.
Company officials expressed their optimism about returning to the US in future possible developments and stated that they hoped to review and continue their operations in the US. Wallet of Satoshi is known as one of the popular Bitcoin Lightning wallets, facilitating over a million Lightning Network payments on its platform. However, unlike decentralized solutions that give users full control over their funds, the app has faced criticism from the crypto community for its surveillance structure that provides control over users’ funds.