Wasabi Wallet’s developer, zkSNACKs, blocked U.S. citizens and residents from using its services in late April 2024, citing “recent announcements by U.S. authorities.” The move came just days after U.S. prosecutors charged the founders of Samourai Wallet, and it marked one of the clearest examples of a privacy-focused Bitcoin company pulling back from the U.S. market because of regulatory risk.
For U.S. readers, the key point is straightforward: Wasabi Wallet did not disappear as software overnight, but zkSNACKs restricted access to its services for U.S. users and then moved to shut down its coinjoin coordination service effective June 1, 2024. That distinction matters because Wasabi as a Bitcoin wallet and zkSNACKs as a service provider are related, but not identical, from a practical or regulatory perspective. (blog.wasabiwallet.website)
Last updated: April 1, 2026
| Key point | What happened |
|---|---|
| U.S. access restriction | zkSNACKs said U.S. citizens and residents were prohibited from using its services |
| Timing | Publicly announced on April 27, 2024 |
| Reason given | “Recent announcements by U.S. authorities” and regulatory concern |
| Broader impact | Privacy-wallet providers reassessed U.S. exposure after Samourai-related enforcement |
| Coinjoin service | zkSNACKs later said its coinjoin coordination service would stop functioning from June 1, 2024 |
What happened to Wasabi Wallet in the U.S.
The immediate trigger was zkSNACKs’ April 27, 2024 announcement. According to reporting and mirrored statements from the Wasabi ecosystem, the company said U.S. nationals and residents were no longer allowed to use its services, and IP-based blocking was applied to key domains and APIs.
That was a sharp escalation.
Before that point, Wasabi had already been a controversial name in Bitcoin privacy because of its coinjoin functionality, which helps users make transaction tracing harder by combining transactions in a coordinated process. Law enforcement and regulators have long scrutinized tools that increase on-chain privacy, especially when they believe those tools may facilitate money laundering or sanctions evasion. Europol had previously identified wallets such as Wasabi and Samourai as significant privacy-related threats in darknet investigations, illustrating that this pressure did not begin in 2024.
Still, April 2024 changed the tone. The arrest and prosecution of Samourai Wallet’s founders sent a message across the privacy-wallet sector that U.S. authorities were willing to pursue developers and operators tied to transaction-obfuscation services. In that environment, zkSNACKs appears to have concluded that continuing to serve U.S. users created too much legal exposure. That causal link is an inference based on timing and the company’s own reference to U.S. authorities’ announcements, but it is strongly supported by contemporaneous reporting.
Why regulation became the breaking point
This wasn’t just about one wallet.
It was about a broader regulatory question: When does a software company cross the line from publishing code to operating a regulated financial service? That issue has shaped enforcement debates around mixers, privacy tools, self-custodial wallets, and Lightning-related infrastructure for years. In 2024, companies in this space appeared increasingly concerned that U.S. regulators might treat coordination, routing, or privacy-enhancing services as money transmission or as part of an unlicensed money services business.
Wasabi’s developer did not publish a long legal memo with the ban announcement, but the wording was revealing. The company pointed to “recent announcements by U.S. authorities,” not a technical issue or a business restructuring. That makes this a regulatory retreat, not a product pivot.
Another important detail: Phoenix Wallet’s developer, ACINQ, also pulled back from the U.S. around the same period. The parallel timing suggested that the concern was industry-wide rather than unique to Wasabi. When multiple privacy-oriented or self-custodial crypto services react at once, it usually signals that legal counsel across the sector is reading the same enforcement environment in a similar way.
For U.S. users, that meant uncertainty on two levels:
- Whether they could still access wallet-related infrastructure.
- Whether privacy features like coinjoin would remain available at all.
Both concerns proved justified. zkSNACKs soon went beyond geoblocking and announced the end of its coinjoin coordination service. (blog.wasabiwallet.website)
The coinjoin shutdown mattered more than the geoblock
The U.S. block got headlines. The service shutdown had deeper consequences.
On May 2, 2024, zkSNACKs announced that it was shutting down its coinjoin coordination service effective June 1, 2024. It also said Wasabi Wallet would continue to function as a regular Bitcoin wallet for sending, receiving, and generating private keys. That distinction is crucial because coinjoin was the feature that made Wasabi strategically important in the privacy-wallet market. Without the coordinator, the wallet remained usable, but its core privacy proposition changed dramatically. (blog.wasabiwallet.website)
Here’s the practical difference:
| Feature | Before June 1, 2024 | After June 1, 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Basic Bitcoin wallet functions | Available | Available, according to zkSNACKs |
| Coinjoin coordination via zkSNACKs | Available | Discontinued |
| U.S. user access to zkSNACKs services | Blocked after April 27, 2024 | Still not available under the announced restriction |
(blog.wasabiwallet.website)
This also affected third-party integrations. Trezor, for example, later told users it was transitioning away from coinjoin in Trezor Suite because zkSNACKs was ending the coordination service that Trezor relied on. That shows the shutdown was not an isolated internal change. It had downstream effects across products that had built privacy features on top of zkSNACKs infrastructure.
So if you’re evaluating the story from a U.S. policy angle, the real headline is bigger than “Wasabi blocked Americans.” It’s that regulatory pressure appears to have helped push a major Bitcoin privacy coordinator out of operation entirely. That’s a meaningful shift in the privacy tooling landscape.
What this meant for U.S. Bitcoin users
For American users, the immediate impact was confusion.
Some people interpreted the announcement as a total loss of access to their coins. That was not the stated position. zkSNACKs said Wasabi Wallet would continue as a regular Bitcoin wallet even after the coinjoin coordinator shut down. In other words, the issue was service access and privacy functionality—not a claim that user-held Bitcoin inside self-custodied wallets would vanish. (blog.wasabiwallet.website)
That said, the user experience still changed in meaningful ways:
- New U.S. users could not lawfully use zkSNACKs services under the company’s policy.
- Existing users lost access to the coordinator-backed privacy workflow that defined Wasabi’s appeal. (blog.wasabiwallet.website)
- IP blocking created discoverability and support issues, including confusion around official domains and access paths. Reports from the Wasabi community also suggested that geoblocking created room for scam or spoofed sites to appear more prominently in search results, though users should verify any such claims carefully before acting.
The broader lesson is simple: self-custody does not guarantee service continuity. You may control your keys, but if your wallet experience depends on a hosted coordinator, API, or company-run backend, regulation can still disrupt what you’re able to do.
That’s the part casual users often miss.
Why this story mattered beyond Wasabi
Wasabi’s U.S. retreat became a signal event for the crypto industry because it highlighted a growing divide between open-source wallet software and operated privacy services. Regulators may tolerate code publication differently from active coordination, hosted infrastructure, fee collection, or transaction facilitation. The more a company appears to run an ongoing service layer, the more likely it may be to attract scrutiny. That is an analytical framing, but it fits the pattern visible in the 2024 enforcement climate.
It also raised a policy question with no easy answer: can privacy tools exist at scale in the U.S. if their operators can be treated like financial intermediaries?
Supporters of privacy wallets argue that transaction privacy is a legitimate security need. Critics argue that tools designed to break traceability predictably attract illicit use. The Wasabi episode did not resolve that debate. It intensified it.
And it showed something else. Fast.
When enforcement risk rises, companies often don’t wait for a final court ruling. They exit first. That’s exactly what appeared to happen here, with zkSNACKs and other firms reducing U.S. exposure before any definitive long-term legal framework emerged.
What readers should take away
Wasabi Wallet’s developer blocked U.S. users because of regulatory concern, then ended its coinjoin coordination service weeks later. Those two steps turned a compliance response into a structural change for one of Bitcoin’s best-known privacy tools.
If you cover crypto policy, this episode matters because it captures three trends at once:
| Trend | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Enforcement spillover | Action against one company can change behavior across an entire sector |
| Service-layer risk | Hosted coordinators and APIs face more pressure than pure code publication |
| U.S. market retreat | Crypto firms may geoblock Americans rather than test uncertain rules |
For users, the practical takeaway is even more direct: privacy features built on centralized or company-operated coordination points are vulnerable to legal disruption, even when the wallet itself is self-custodial. That’s the non-obvious lesson behind the headline.
Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly did zkSNACKs block for U.S. users?
zkSNACKs said U.S. citizens and residents were prohibited from using its services, and reporting indicated the company applied IP-based blocking to its websites and related infrastructure. The restriction was announced on April 27, 2024.
Did Wasabi Wallet stop working completely?
No. zkSNACKs later said Wasabi Wallet would continue to function as a regular Bitcoin wallet, even though its coinjoin coordination service was being shut down. That means basic wallet functions were expected to remain, while the privacy coordination layer ended. (blog.wasabiwallet.website)
Why did the company make this decision?
The company cited “recent announcements by U.S. authorities.” Reporting tied the move to a broader wave of regulatory concern following U.S. action against Samourai Wallet and pressure on other crypto privacy or self-custody services.
When did Wasabi’s coinjoin service end?
zkSNACKs announced that its coinjoin coordination service would stop functioning from June 1, 2024. That date also affected products that depended on zkSNACKs infrastructure, including coinjoin functionality in Trezor Suite. (blog.wasabiwallet.website)
Was this only a Wasabi issue?
No. Around the same period, Phoenix Wallet’s developer ACINQ also pulled back from the U.S., suggesting the concern was broader than one company or one product.
What is the biggest takeaway for U.S. crypto users?
The main lesson is that self-custody does not eliminate regulatory exposure when wallet features depend on company-run services such as coordinators, APIs, or hosted infrastructure. You may control your keys, but the service layer can still be restricted or shut down. (blog.wasabiwallet.website)
Conclusion
Wasabi Wallet’s U.S. block was more than a regional access change. It was a visible sign that regulatory pressure in 2024 reshaped the market for Bitcoin privacy tools. zkSNACKs first barred U.S. users, then ended the coinjoin coordination service that made Wasabi distinctive.
That sequence matters because it shows how quickly legal risk can alter crypto products, even when those products are built around self-custody. The wallet may remain. The service layer may not.
For most readers, the clearest conclusion is this: Wasabi’s developer blocked U.S. users over regulation because the legal risk around privacy-enhancing Bitcoin services had become too high to ignore. If you’re tracking where crypto compliance is heading next, this was one of the clearest warning signs.
