Bitcoin Privacy Tools in the US: What Still Works
Bitcoin privacy in the US changed after Samourai Wallet was shut down and its founders sentenced in November 2025, and after Wasabi's coordinator closed in June 2024. What still works: Silent Payments (BIP352) for reusable addresses, supported in Sparrow, Cake Wallet, Nunchuk, BlueWallet, and BitBox02; PayJoin for two-party transactions; JoinMarket-ng (a fork after the original repo was archived in April 2026); and Ashigaru, a community fork of Samourai. Using these tools is legal in the US, but coordinators face regulatory risk. Last verified September 2026. Listings are neutral and unranked; not financial advice.
Privacy: 6 listings
Legal grey area: Improving your own transaction privacy is legal. Operating a coinjoin coordinator has been prosecuted as unlicensed money transmission. Some services block US IP addresses. This is not legal advice.
- Silent Payments (BIP352) — Static payment codes that produce a fresh address for every payment. Supported in Sparrow, Cake Wallet, Nunchuk, BlueWallet, and BitBox02. self-custody, Bitcoin-only, open source.
- PayJoin (BIP78 / BIP77) — Sender and receiver both contribute inputs, breaking the common-input heuristic. self-custody, Bitcoin-only, open source.
- JoinMarket-ng — Maker-taker coinjoin market with no central coordinator. Fork of JoinMarket after the original repo was archived in April 2026. self-custody, Bitcoin-only, open source. Changed: Original repo archived Apr 2026.
- Ashigaru — Community fork of Samourai Wallet with Whirlpool-style coinjoin over Tor. self-custody, Bitcoin-only, open source. Warning: Volunteer-run; coordinator continuity is not guaranteed.
- Wasabi Wallet — Wallet remains open source, but zkSNACKs shut its coordinator in June 2024 and US IPs are blocked from remaining coordinators. self-custody, Bitcoin-only, open source. US availability: Coinjoin coordinators block US IP addresses. Changed: Coordinator shut June 2024.
- Samourai Wallet — Shut down in April 2024; founders sentenced in November 2025. Listed so searchers know it is offline. self-custody, Bitcoin-only. Changed: Shut down 2024; sentencing Nov 2025. Warning: Defunct. Do not send funds to Samourai infrastructure.
Frequently asked questions
Is coinjoin legal in the US?
Participating in a coinjoin as a user has not been prosecuted. The Samourai case targeted the operators of a coordinator as an unlicensed money transmitter. The environment can change; this is not legal advice.
What replaced Wasabi and Samourai for privacy?
Silent Payments for receiving without address reuse, PayJoin for spending, and JoinMarket-ng or Ashigaru for coinjoin. Running your own node and avoiding address reuse remain the basics.
Does a Bitcoin portfolio tracker hurt privacy?
It can if it fetches balances from your addresses through a third-party server. BitStack lets you enter balances manually so you never share addresses, or you can add addresses to track automatically if you accept that trade-off.
Links
Interactive directory: enable JavaScript or open trybitstack.com.