Launch of the open source project Ashigaru as a fork of Samourai Wallet: the goal is to continue the fight for privacy in Bitcoin usage.
On September 20, a group of developers announced the launch of a fork of the Samourai Wallet code, releasing the first version of a mobile wallet under the new Ashigaru Open Source Project. The project’s website states that Ashigaru “develops, releases, and maintains free and open-source software,” with the goal of providing accessible technological solutions while ensuring security, privacy, and censorship resistance for users.
Project specifications and goals
Ashigaru utilizes CoinJoin transactions and other mechanisms, such as the requirement to run a Dojo node, to protect users from blockchain surveillance companies. The developers stated that the project heavily relies on public domain code and other cryptographic projects. Ashigaru’s mission is to enable anyone to participate in online commerce in a peaceful, voluntary, and private manner, without tracking, surveillance, or censorship.
There is little information about the development team, which identifies as “former users of Samourai Wallet,” but they have clarified that they have no ties to the previous team. After the arrest of Samourai’s two founders, the FBI seized the wallet’s website and servers, and the mobile app was removed from the Google Play Store.
Ashigaru aims to continue Samourai Wallet’s goal of providing privacy tools within the Bitcoin ecosystem, positioning itself as an independent and open-source project.
Community reactions
Following the news, in a post on X, user @econoalchemist stated:
User @_k3tan stated:
