{"id":13259,"date":"2024-05-06T15:52:44","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T12:52:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/zksnacks-ceo-clarifies-coinjoin-shutdown\/"},"modified":"2024-05-06T15:52:44","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T12:52:44","slug":"zksnacks-ceo-clarifies-coinjoin-shutdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/zksnacks-ceo-clarifies-coinjoin-shutdown\/","title":{"rendered":"zkSNACKs CEO Clarifies CoinJoin Shutdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The decision to discontinue the CoinJoin transaction anonymization service was made to ensure compliance with U.S. regulatory standards, according to Max Hillebrand, CEO of zkSNACKs, the company behind the service, in an interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/bitcoin-privacy-survive-coinjoin-closure\">Cointelegraph<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>He stated that shutting down the service was a necessary step given the lack of clarity in regulations concerning the crypto space and privacy-enhancing tools.<\/p>\n<p>Hillebrand noted that the ecosystem of the first cryptocurrency is losing an important solution that helped users conduct anonymous transactions. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cBitcoin&#8217;s privacy will persist, but the reduced support from zkSNACKs for developers and privacy advocates is a regrettable setback,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The Wasabi Wallet, developed by zkSNACKs, will continue to function as a regular extension, Hillebrand clarified. In his view, the balance verification architecture, integration with the Tor browser, and filtering system still provide significant privacy.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cHowever, the nature of the Bitcoin blockchain does not allow for complete privacy without CoinJoin,\u201d acknowledged the zkSNACKs CEO.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The developer chose not to speculate on how regulatory practices regarding similar anonymization solutions might evolve outside the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>The issue was also highlighted by former <span data-descr=\"United States National Security Agency\" class=\"old_tooltip\">NSA<\/span> and <span data-descr=\"United States Central Intelligence Agency\" class=\"old_tooltip\">CIA<\/span> employee Edward Snowden. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I&#8217;ve been warning Bitcoin developers for ten years that privacy needs to be provided for at the protocol level. This is the final warning. The clock is ticking. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/r7w7gdrHRp\">https:\/\/t.co\/r7w7gdrHRp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Edward Snowden (@Snowden) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Snowden\/status\/1786170805728039127?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 2, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cFor ten years, I have warned Bitcoin developers that privacy must be ensured at the protocol level. This is the final warning. The clock is ticking,\u201d he wrote. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Recently, regulators have been intensifying scrutiny over cryptocurrency mixing services. Earlier, the <span data-descr=\"Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury\" class=\"old_tooltip\">FinCEN<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fincen.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/federal_register_notices\/2023-10-19\/FinCEN_311MixingNPRM_FINAL.pdf\">planned<\/a> to designate crypto mixers as \u201cmoney laundering hubs\u201d that threaten national security. <\/p>\n<p>Back in late April, the U.S. Federal Prosecutor&#8217;s Office <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/samourai-wallet-founders-arrested-for-alleged-100-million-money-laundering\">charged<\/a> two co-founders of the Samourai Wallet, which used CoinJoin, with facilitating the laundering of $100 million for cybercriminals and sanctioned individuals. The top executives face up to 25 years in prison.<\/p>\n<p>In March, a U.S. jury <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/bitcoin-fog-operator-found-guilty-of-money-laundering\">found<\/a> Russian Roman Sterlingov guilty of operating the Bitcoin Fog mixing service and laundering over $400 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The decision to discontinue the CoinJoin transaction anonymization service was made to ensure compliance with U.S. regulatory standards, according to Max Hillebrand, CEO of zkSNACKs, the company behind the service, in an interview with Cointelegraph. He stated that shutting down the service was a necessary step given the lack of clarity in regulations concerning the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"","news_style_id":"","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1544,1256,26,933],"class_list":["post-13259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-coinjoin","tag-privacy-and-personal-data","tag-usa","tag-wasabi-wallet"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"17","promo_type":"","layout_type":"","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}