In late April, the U.S. government announced charges against Samourai Wallet’s founders, William Lonergan Hill, and Keonne Rodriguez, accusing them of running an unlicensed money-transmitting operation and laundering more than $100 million through illegal transactions. Fast forward four months and a group of developers from the Ashigaru Open Source Project took matters into their own hands by forking the Samourai Wallet software.
The website states the project is a “self custodial, open source and secure bitcoin wallet that is private by design.” The site reveals that Ashigaru came to life in the months following the U.S. Department of Justice’s charges against the Samourai Wallet founders. The name “Ashigaru” is an interesting choice—it refers to the foot soldiers of feudal Japan, some of whom could climb the ranks to become Samurai. The term itself means “light feet,” a nod to the stealthy, elusive nature that defines the ancient Ashigaru’s approach.
“We believe anyone should be able to engage in peaceful, voluntary and private commerce on the internet without tracking, surveillance or censorship,” Ashigaru Wallet’s website details. “The Ashigaru Open Source Project develops, releases and maintains free and open source software that makes extensive use of both published code from active projects as well as those archived in the public domain.”
The site’s documentation breaks down the wallet’s components, provides an overview of the server, and explains how to connect to Dojo. In short, Dojo is a self-hosted backend server that empowers users to operate their own full Bitcoin node and wallet server, eliminating the need for centralized servers. The buzz about the Ashigaru project quickly spread across social media platforms like X, with several individuals sharing the news.
“Samourai Wallet has been forked,” one X account stated. Some brave souls have picked up where Samourai Wallet left off and the fight for privacy lives on.”
The individual added:
Excellent work in reigniting this flame in the darkest hour. Running your own Dojo now required.
