Wasabi Wallet, Whirlpool and JoinMarket: operational models, decentralization, costs, usability and waiting times to increase the privacy of your UTXOs.
TL;DR: CoinJoin lets multiple Bitcoin users combine their UTXOs in a single transaction, breaking the deterministic links between coins. As of 2026 the landscape has changed sharply: Samourai Wallet was shut down by the US DOJ in April 2024 and its founders were sentenced to five and four years in prison in November 2025; zkSNACKs discontinued Wasabi’s coordinator in June 2024, leaving coordination to community operators such as Kruw; the original JoinMarket repository was archived in April 2026, with joinmarket-ng and the Jam web UI carrying the ecosystem forward. The most active successors are Wasabi Wallet with third-party coordinators and Ashigaru, the anonymous fork of Samourai that relaunched Whirlpool in June 2025 with two pools (0.025 and 0.25 BTC) and a 5% entry fee.
What is CoinJoin and how does it work?
CoinJoin is a trustless technique for Bitcoin users who want to improve the privacy of their UTXO. It is a methodology that allows multiple users to combine their UTXO into a single transaction, breaking the deterministic links between old UTXO and new ones. The concept of coinjoin was first proposed in 2013 by developer Gregory Maxwell. Among the main solutions currently available are Wasabi Wallet, Whirlpool (relaunched by Ashigaru) and JoinMarket. Although all implement the CoinJoin protocol, each adopts a different approach in terms of operational model, decentralization, costs and ease of use.
What happened to CoinJoin tools after 2024?
The CoinJoin ecosystem went through its hardest period between 2024 and 2026:
- April 2024: the US Department of Justice arrested the founders of Samourai Wallet and seized its infrastructure, shutting down the original Whirlpool coordinator.
- June 2024: zkSNACKs, the company behind Wasabi Wallet, discontinued its coinjoin coordination service, citing the regulatory climate. Wasabi development continued, and coordination moved to independent community operators such as Kruw.
- June 2025: Ashigaru, an anonymous fork of Samourai Wallet, relaunched Whirlpool with a new coordinator and a redesigned architecture.
- July 2025: Samourai founders Keonne Rodriguez and William Hill pleaded guilty to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.
- November 2025: Rodriguez was sentenced to five years in prison and Hill to four.
- April 2026: the original JoinMarket repository was archived on GitHub, ending active development of the first CoinJoin implementation; alternative implementations such as joinmarket-ng and the Jam web UI continue the ecosystem.
The result is an ecosystem that is smaller but more decentralized: no single company runs the dominant coordinator anymore.
Which CoinJoin tools are available in 2026?
| Wasabi Wallet | Ashigaru Whirlpool | JoinMarket | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protocol | WabiSabi | Zerolink | Maker-taker market |
| Coordinator | Independent third parties (e.g. Kruw) | Ashigaru coordinator (Tor only) | None (peer-to-peer) |
| Coordination fee | None from Wasabi; set by coordinator, some free | 5% of pool size at entry (Tx0), remixing free | Market-driven maker fees |
| Platforms | Desktop (Windows, Mac, Linux) | Ashigaru Terminal (desktop TUI) | Command line; Jam web UI |
| Development status (2026) | Active | Active | Original repo archived April 2026; joinmarket-ng and Jam active |
Wasabi Wallet
Wasabi Wallet is an open source desktop wallet that implements the WabiSabi protocol, allowing coinjoin transactions with variable amounts. This aims to reduce the creation of “toxic change”, allowing exact change or no change. The WabiSabi protocol is designed to be “trustless”, which means the coordinator cannot steal funds or violate the privacy of participants. All communications and transactions are routed through the Tor network, which encrypts internet traffic and hides users’ IP addresses. Thanks to client-side block filters (BIP-158), the wallet obtains transaction history without exposing users’ addresses to external servers. In practice, Wasabi downloads only part of a block and, in case of a match, requests the complete block directly from random Bitcoin nodes on the P2P network, using Tor to further obfuscate users’ identity and activity.
Historically, Wasabi’s coordinator was managed by zkSNACKs Ltd., the company that sponsored the development of Wasabi Wallet. The use of a centralized coordinator created a single point of failure and regulatory vulnerability. This tension culminated in zkSNACKs’ decision to discontinue its coordination service in June 2024, citing increased regulatory pressure following the arrest of Samourai Wallet founders. However, the community responded with the emergence of alternative and independent coordinators like Kruw, which helped diversify the ecosystem, making it less vulnerable to regulatory pressure.
List of existing coordinators on Wasabi Wallet.
Operational model and decentralization
Wasabi Wallet uses a centralized approach with a single coordinator, which however does not know the input and output flows thanks to the implementation of blind signatures and connection via Tor. The wallet is designed to be entirely automatic: the user configures their mixing strategy and lets the software work. No manual intervention is required during the process nor is it possible to manually select which coins to mix.
Fees and costs
From version 2.2.0.0 onwards, Wasabi Wallet has eliminated its own fees. Currently Wasabi users pay only mining fees for the block space used, relying on voluntary or alternative coordinators. New coordinators, like Kruw, can implement their own fee structures, with some offering coordination for free.
Mixing strategies, such as “Default Strategy”, “Reduce costs” or “Enhance privacy”, also help calibrate expenses, optimizing times and costs depending on network peaks. For example, the “Reduce costs” strategy starts coinjoin rounds only when network fees are low.
Mix size and waiting times
Wasabi Wallet allows participation in multiple mixes with UTXO of different sizes. The resulting outputs are of different sizes from each other. For example, the Wasabi website lists dozens of possible values generated in a round (from 0.00005 BTC up to thousands of BTC). Waiting times can vary from a few hours to a maximum of a few days to achieve the desired privacy.
Technical requirements
Wasabi is available on desktop (Windows, Mac, Linux); there is no mobile app. To further improve privacy, the wallet can be connected to your own Bitcoin full node.
Ashigaru and Whirlpool
What is the Ashigaru wallet?
Ashigaru is an open-source project run by an anonymous team that identifies as former users of Samourai Wallet, with no connection to the original Samourai developers. Its stated mission is to enable private, voluntary online commerce without tracking or surveillance.
The project’s first release, on 20 September 2024, was the Ashigaru mobile wallet, a fork of Samourai Wallet for Android that preserves tools such as coinjoin transaction features and requires users to connect to their own Dojo node as backend. The current version, v1.1.1, was released on 3 March 2025; the APK is distributed exclusively through the project’s onion site on Tor, and the wallet is not available on Google Play or F-Droid.
In June 2025 the project relaunched Whirlpool, Samourai’s Zerolink coinjoin implementation, which had been offline since the April 2024 seizure. The new Whirlpool runs on a different architecture from the original and is operated through Ashigaru Terminal, a desktop application for Windows, Mac and Linux.
How does Ashigaru Whirlpool work?
Ashigaru Whirlpool and Ashigaru Terminal v1.0.0 were released on 23 June 2025, bringing Zerolink coinjoins back after more than a year offline. The Whirlpool workflow is two-phase: first the user generates an entry transaction (Tx0) depositing up to 20 UTXO into one of the two available pools, paying a fixed anti-Sybil fee; subsequently the user participates in the actual mixing rounds.
The “pre-mixing” transaction (Tx0) separates excess change from UTXO destined for mixing and from coordinator fees before coinjoin, ensuring that “toxic change” outputs are not created directly from the mix. After the initial mix, users can participate in “remixing” rounds for free. This allows already mixed outputs to join additional rounds, increasing their anonymity set without incurring additional service fees.
The coordinator relies on blind signatures and is reachable exclusively via Tor, so it cannot track inputs and outputs. Compared to Wasabi, Whirlpool requires greater manual intervention from the user: the procedure begins with generating the premix transaction (Tx0), necessary to access one of the available pools. From there on, coinjoin rounds happen automatically.
The new system uses an Electrum server as backend, eliminating the dependency on Dojo nodes for mixing and making the solution compatible with platforms like Start9, Umbrel and myNode. This architectural change also ensures that the Ashigaru team does not have access to users’ master public keys (xpub). The code is open-source and designed to allow the creation of various independent coordinators.
Fees, pools and requirements
Two pools are active, 0.025 BTC and 0.25 BTC, each charging a 5% anti-Sybil entry fee on the pool denomination (0.00125 BTC and 0.0125 BTC respectively), paid once in the Tx0 transaction, with a maximum of 20 UTXOs per Tx0. After entry, remixing is free indefinitely; users pay only mining fees. This model aims to discourage Sybil attacks and ensure greater security for participants.
Mix outputs are equal to the chosen pool value, with fixed sizes. There are no “multiple denominations” like in Wasabi. Waiting times depend on the number of participants: once Tx0 is completed, mixes activate randomly at regular intervals.
To use Whirlpool, the compatible Ashigaru Terminal interface is required, a Terminal User Interface application available for desktop. The computer running Ashigaru Terminal must stay online for mixing to continue, and the use of a Bitcoin full node is recommended. The interface may be less intuitive compared to Wasabi.
JoinMarket
Development status (2026): the original JoinMarket repository (joinmarket-clientserver) was archived on GitHub on 27 April 2026 after a long period without active development. The code and past releases remain available and the protocol still works as long as makers and takers run it, but that release line is no longer maintained. The ecosystem continues through joinmarket-ng, an alternative implementation under active development, and Jam, the web UI, which remains actively maintained as of June 2026. Anyone using the archived codebase today should weigh the risks of running unmaintained software that handles private keys.
In 2015 Chris Belcher announced JoinMarket, the first implementation of the CoinJoin protocol. JoinMarket stands out for its completely decentralized and peer-to-peer model.
JoinMarket operates through a “maker-taker” market model:
- maker: offer liquidity by creating partially signed transactions and making their UTXO available to be mixed. In exchange for this service, they earn a commission;
- taker: initiate coinjoin transactions and pay a commission to makers for the service. Fees are not fixed but are determined by the market, based on demand and supply.
The protocol is open-source and trustless: each user always holds their private keys and signs their inputs in the coinjoin.
Operational model and decentralization
Unlike Wasabi and Whirlpool, there is no central coordinator: the meeting between makers (who provide liquidity) and takers (who want to participate in coinjoin) happens through a peer-to-peer protocol. This ensures total independence from central servers and more flexible management. Participating nodes communicate with each other via Tor.
If a user decides to act as a maker, they can set up a Fidelity Bond to attract users to choose them as a collaborator in a coinjoin transaction. The concept of Fidelity Bond was introduced in the JoinMarket protocol as a system to ensure that market actors act honestly. It is a primary mechanism for Sybil attack resistance, making it economically expensive for an attacker to control multiple identities.
The Fidelity Bond is a function that allows locking a certain amount of bitcoin to show the network one’s commitment (reputation) in using the protocol. It is important to lock a certain amount of bitcoin if you want other taker users to consider and accept the offer. The locked bitcoins are impossible to move until the bond expires. It should be noted that without a Fidelity Bond it might be more difficult for your offer to be chosen. The protocol is particularly appreciated by expert users, as it allows maintaining maximum control over one’s UTXO. However, configuration is more complex and requires more advanced knowledge.
Fees and costs
JoinMarket does not apply its own fees. Costs depend on rates determined by makers, which can vary based on demand. These costs, combined with normal network fees, are generally competitive, making JoinMarket an economically advantageous option for users.
Mix size and waiting times
JoinMarket supports mixes of any size above the dust limit, provided there are makers available to satisfy requests. Mixes can involve 4 to 20 counterparties, with almost immediate times for takers. However, makers must wait for a taker’s request to complete the process. The resulting anonymity depends on the number of rounds executed.
Technical requirements
JoinMarket is primarily designed to be used from command line on computers connected to a Bitcoin full-node. However, optional graphical interfaces exist, such as JoinMarket-Qt and Jam, which greatly simplify its use.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best CoinJoin tool in 2026?
Wasabi Wallet is the most accessible option: a desktop wallet with automatic coinjoins through community coordinators such as Kruw, with no wallet fee. Ashigaru Whirlpool suits users who prefer the Zerolink model with fixed pools and free remixing, at the cost of a 5% entry fee. JoinMarket still works, but its original repository was archived in April 2026; the ecosystem continues through joinmarket-ng and the Jam web UI.
Is CoinJoin legal?
CoinJoin is a transaction type, and using it is not in itself illegal in most jurisdictions. However, operating coordination services has been prosecuted in the US: Samourai Wallet’s founders were sentenced to five and four years in prison in November 2025 for running an unlicensed money transmitting business. Some exchanges may also flag deposits with coinjoin history.
What is the Ashigaru wallet?
Ashigaru is an anonymous open-source fork of Samourai Wallet, launched in September 2024 after Samourai was shut down by the DOJ. The project maintains an Android wallet (v1.1.1, distributed only via Tor) that requires a personal Dojo node and, since June 2025, runs Ashigaru Whirlpool, a relaunch of the Zerolink coinjoin system operated through the Ashigaru Terminal desktop app over Tor.
Does Wasabi Wallet still work after zkSNACKs shut down its coordinator?
Yes. zkSNACKs discontinued its coordinator on 1 June 2024, but Wasabi removed its own coinjoin fees from version 2.2.0.0 and lets users pick independent coordinators. Community-run coordinators such as Kruw continue to process rounds, some without coordination fees.
How much does a CoinJoin cost?
With Wasabi, you pay mining fees plus whatever fee the chosen coordinator sets (some charge none). With Ashigaru Whirlpool, entry costs 5% of the pool denomination plus mining fees, then remixing is free. With JoinMarket, takers pay market-driven fees to makers plus mining fees.
Does CoinJoin make bitcoin untraceable?
It breaks deterministic links between inputs and outputs, increasing the cost of chain analysis. It does not guarantee anonymity: post-mix behavior, address reuse and amount correlation can still degrade privacy.
