Can what happened to Samourai Wallet happen to Electrum ?

[unknowncustomer]

Hello,

I saw that the founders of Samourai Wallets were arrested and that the website to download the wallet was frozen. I guess this has made users of this wallet unsecured.
Do you think this can happen to other software wallets ? Especially Electrum ?

[1715102905]

1715102905

[1715102905]

1715102905

[Charles-Tim]

Do you think this can happen to other software wallets ? Especially Electrum ?

Government can not take down Electrum because Electrum is only a wallet and not centralized in any way than its users using central server to connect to the blockchain.

In short, Electrum is not aiming for money in a centralized way that can make government to take it down. It is not even a mixer. Not having anything that can make it to be the government target.

[Findingnemo]

Hello,

I saw that the founders of Samourai Wallets were arrested and that the website to download the wallet was frozen. I guess this has made users of this wallet unsecured.
Do you think this can happen to other software wallets ? Especially Electrum ?

Understand that government made actions against the founders for money laundering not for having the wallet software so I don't find any reason for Electrum to be facing the same problem that mixers are facing.

In future if Electrum goes down the path then someone can create a wallet similar to Electrum so no need to worry for now Electrum is safe to be used.

[AprilioMP]

Do you think this can happen to other software wallets ? Especially Electrum ?

For other wallets, I don't dare to say that something like what happened to Samourai Wallet would not happen if the main party from another wallet did the same thing as Samourai Wallet did.
But I dare say what happened to Samourai Wallet will not happen to Electrum Wallet.

Aside from Charles-Tim's explanation about how Electrum won't end up like Sampurai, they (Electrum) don't get paid and don't make money.
There is a topic that I will leave here to read.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5465806.msg62801387#msg62801387

[BitMaxz]

It's impossible to happen on Electrum it doesn't have a feature the same as Samourai.

Electrum does not have any tools that can be use for money laundering and we're using it as alternative lite wallet because Bitcoin Core needs more resources than Electrum.

The government only seeks for wallets or services that can be used for money laundering maybe Sparrow and Wasabi both of them have the same features as Samourai.

[Z-tight]

I guess this has made users of this wallet unsecured.

People who used Samourai didn't lose their funds, if that is what you think or mean. It is a self custodial wallet, and even if they can no longer access their funds in the Samourai software, they can use their seed phrase and import their wallet into another recommended software in order to access their funds. Electrum is not a privacy solution and it is not a target of the government.

[The Cryptovator]

First of all, there is no such reason to ban the Electrum wallet and arrest the developer. They aren't doing any crime or earning money from Electrum. Let's say the government still bans and removes the Electrum from everywhere. But still, you will have the funds; you can simply import your seed to any other wallet. Even you can use an Electeum wallet by creating it yourself. Due to open source, anyone can clone it easily. So still, we will be able to use Electrum. It's also decentralised; no one controls it. 

[sheenshane]

I guess this has made users of this wallet unsecured.

People who used Samourai didn't lose their funds, if that is what you think or mean. It is a self custodial wallet, and even if they can no longer access their funds in the Samourai software, they can use their seed phrase and import their wallet into another recommended software in order to access their funds. Electrum is not a privacy solution and it is not a target of the government.

Exactly, it doesn't affect the Bitcoin that you have as long as you have control over it.
The reason is that our Bitcoins are stored on the Bitcoin blockchain, not within the wallet itself.  As long as you have your private keys or seed phrase that you can access, you're safe, you can still access your Bitcoins using alternative wallet software, even if Electrum or Samuari wallets were banned.

Speaking of Electrum, IMO, it's impossible to be banned, they aren't the same as Samurai.

[mk4]

Governments can always take down any website they want as history has shown us, but it doesn't necessarily make the software inaccessible. If for instance the authorities shutdown Electrums website, I'm pretty sure the software will still be distributed elsewhere.

[PX-Z]

Phoenix wallet forced their team to remove their app for US users for the "Lightning" nodes because it is considered as "Money Services Businesses" for their very own terms and reasons. So electrum getting affected to these bans is likely possible i just don't know how they will consider electrum as a "business", but only for US, unless some countries copy this kind of regulation,

On May 3rd, 2024, @PhoenixWallet
 will be removed from US app stores.

Users from the US should empty their wallet:
- Settings > Close channels (Android)
- Settings > Drain wallet (iOS)

We highly recommend *not force-closing* channels, as on-chain fees could be significant.

https://twitter.com/acinq_co/status/1783878732865740940

[pooya87]

Anti-privacy dictatorships such as USA can always arrest anybody including developers like they did the Samourai devs and they can easily shut down any website or take down the open source code on Github.

What they can't do is shut down Electrum because it is not centralized the way Samourai was. Electrum relies on "indexed full nodes" known as Electrum servers that are run by individuals that are independent and can continue running these nodes as long as they want since they are from various jurisdictions.

Other software has to be analyzed independently and as a case by case basis because they are wildly different. As a rule of thumb the more centralized they are (eg. an SPV wallet relying on a single centralized server to sync) the more the damage of shutting them down will be.

[pakhitheboss]

The FBI is going after Bitcoin mixers and those wallets that offer such facilities. They will never come after those wallets that they think are used to hold Bitcoin. In case they seek for the developers of Electrum walle,t they will need to do a big hard work as the developers are scattered all over the world.

Let's assume they got hold of everyone and then they confiscated the software codes, they will still not be able to come after you. If they still manage then you can delete your wallet and before that do create a backup and keep safe those seed phrases. With those seed phrases you will be able to gain access to your Bitcoin with any compatible wallet.

Almost all Bitcoin wallets are compatible with each other as per my understanding. If, I am wrong then someone with technical knowledge will update my understanding.

[Yamane_Keto]

Assuming that the United States seized Samourai Wallet due to money laundering, but does the United States need a reason to ban a service? The United States may decide to ban wallets, including Electrum. If this happens, you can still use the wallet if there are servers running, or extract the private keys and add them to bitcoinCore or any other full node wallet.
Full node wallets are the only wallets that cannot be stopped, but if the developers are arrested, updating the code may be slow or unreliable.

[khaled0111]

That's unlikely to happen to Electrum and even if it happens there is nothing to worry about.
Electrum is an open source software so as long as you or anyone else have a copy of the source code, you can compile it any time and continue using it.
Also, even all Electrum servers are taken down, you can run your own Electrum server and connect your wallet to it. This is the beauty of open-source and decentralization.

[NotATether]

Electrum does not have the capability of mixing so it should not be affected.

[Kruw]

Electrum does not have the capability of mixing so it should not be affected.

It does thanks to Joinstr - https://www.coinjoins.org/wallets/joinstr

[NotATether]

Electrum does not have the capability of mixing so it should not be affected.

It does thanks to Joinstr - https://www.coinjoins.org/wallets/joinstr

But Joinstr is not bundled with Electrum or even mentioned once on its website. What are you on about?

[ABCbits]

Hello,

I saw that the founders of Samourai Wallets were arrested and that the website to download the wallet was frozen. I guess this has made users of this wallet unsecured.
Do you think this can happen to other software wallets ? Especially Electrum ?

Yes, assuming government don't want their citizen store Bitcoin or altcoin on self-custodial wallet. But for now, there aren't many excuse to get rid of Electrum or other wallet. Electrum by default doesn't offer much privacy either.

Electrum does not have the capability of mixing so it should not be affected.

It does thanks to Joinstr - https://www.coinjoins.org/wallets/joinstr

But Joinstr is not bundled with Electrum or even mentioned once on its website. What are you on about?

In addition, the website clearly state it's not available on Bitcoin mainnet for now.

[dkbit98]

I saw that the founders of Samourai Wallets were arrested and that the website to download the wallet was frozen. I guess this has made users of this wallet unsecured.
Do you think this can happen to other software wallets ? Especially Electrum ?

It seems that we are in Wild Wild West, so they can do anything they want now, because they have the ''guns'' in their hands.

I don't think that Electrum wallet is going to be one of their primary targets, and I wouldn't worry much about that, but they could always add more pressure on electrum developers and servers.
Being anonymous bitcoin developers with good security practices is worth a lot these days, and it would be a smart decision hindsight.

[mindrust]

Hello,

I saw that the founders of Samourai Wallets were arrested and that the website to download the wallet was frozen. I guess this has made users of this wallet unsecured.
Do you think this can happen to other software wallets ? Especially Electrum ?

You can always extract your seed words/private keys from electrum and use them in some other wallet software. If the electrum devs get arrested tomorrow, you won't get affected in a major way. You'll have to find another wallet software and there are plenty. However, electrum is still the best light crypto wallet software imo and without a doubt it will be a big loss for the crypto community.

But these are very theoretical events. Electrum isn't mixing coins or providing other privacy tools like coinjoin so nothing will happen to its devs.