Summarizing my thoughts on the Wallet of Satoshi incident today.
Wallet of Satoshi has been removed from App Store and Play Store in *some* regions, ie. in the US.
## Why shouldn't we be concerned?
Removal of app from appstore doesn't mean your funds are gone, WoS uses an account system so you can still log in to your account somewhere else, Android users also need not worry about auto updates deleting app, and can always install the app through other stores or even sideload using apk.
## Why should we be concerned?
What causes people to worry is not the inability to use the app, but what will happen to custodial lightning wallet providers like WoS.
Wallet of Satoshi is one of the largest Lightning service provider, a position only ousted by Alby in recent months, so it's (they're) an easy target(s).
Custodial Lightning wallets are easy to use, has many useful features like the ability to have a lighting address using lnurl and dns, but they are custodial. Unlicensed custodial services are illegal in many jurisdiction, and with recent legal actions against Binance, it feels like the walls are coming up around us and it's possible that 'those who do not play by the rules will need to pay the price' even if the rules are made by a bunch of frauds.
So there are risks involved, but it is unclear how this will play out and it could all be a nothingburger.
## What should we do if we're using WoS?
The good thing is, we have options, my recommendation right now is to at least temporarily move your sats to a non custodial wallet. If you are reading this then you probably not a routing node operator, so your best bets are the non custodial LN wallets. These include, but are not limited to,
- Phoenix wallet (and Eclaire if you're a masochist)
- Mutiny wallet
- Breez Wallet
- Blixt (ok this is as hard as Eclaire)
There are some options I haven't tried yet like Zeus.
But be aware that in order to use these non custodial wallet, you will need to open your own Lightning channel. Of course you'll still be using their node and liquidity services, but there will be fees associated with opening up a new channel which requires an on-chain transaction.
With the current ongoing attack on chain by the big blockers orditards the fees are pretty high, around 14-20k sats to open or modify a channel.
These wallet will open a channel with your initial deposit, so you'll want to have a large enough channel opened to receive all of your sats, this is done by sending all of your sats at once to avoid multiple fees, it can be quite scary, if you wanted to be safe, be prepared to pay the fees at least twice. All in all, just think it through carefully as the fees are quite expensive at the moment.
If all of this is still over your head, you can try moving your funds to another custodial wallet like Blink or Alby, but they also face the same risk.
I will try to keep you guys updated on the situation.
Tum ⚡🟧
npub1pry…2xcv
2023-11-24 03:10:46
Author Public Key
npub1prya33fnqerq0fljwjtp77ehtu7jlsjt5ydhwveuwmqdsdm6k8esk42xcvPublished at
2023-11-24 03:10:46Event JSON
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"pubkey": "08c9d8c533064607a7f274961f7b375f3d2fc24ba11b77333c76c0d8377ab1f3",
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"tags": [],
"content": "Summarizing my thoughts on the Wallet of Satoshi incident today. \n\nWallet of Satoshi has been removed from App Store and Play Store in *some* regions, ie. in the US.\n\n## Why shouldn't we be concerned?\n\nRemoval of app from appstore doesn't mean your funds are gone, WoS uses an account system so you can still log in to your account somewhere else, Android users also need not worry about auto updates deleting app, and can always install the app through other stores or even sideload using apk. \n\n## Why should we be concerned? \n\nWhat causes people to worry is not the inability to use the app, but what will happen to custodial lightning wallet providers like WoS. \nWallet of Satoshi is one of the largest Lightning service provider, a position only ousted by Alby in recent months, so it's (they're) an easy target(s). \nCustodial Lightning wallets are easy to use, has many useful features like the ability to have a lighting address using lnurl and dns, but they are custodial. Unlicensed custodial services are illegal in many jurisdiction, and with recent legal actions against Binance, it feels like the walls are coming up around us and it's possible that 'those who do not play by the rules will need to pay the price' even if the rules are made by a bunch of frauds. \nSo there are risks involved, but it is unclear how this will play out and it could all be a nothingburger.\n\n## What should we do if we're using WoS?\n\nThe good thing is, we have options, my recommendation right now is to at least temporarily move your sats to a non custodial wallet. If you are reading this then you probably not a routing node operator, so your best bets are the non custodial LN wallets. These include, but are not limited to, \n- Phoenix wallet (and Eclaire if you're a masochist)\n- Mutiny wallet\n- Breez Wallet \n- Blixt (ok this is as hard as Eclaire)\nThere are some options I haven't tried yet like Zeus.\nBut be aware that in order to use these non custodial wallet, you will need to open your own Lightning channel. Of course you'll still be using their node and liquidity services, but there will be fees associated with opening up a new channel which requires an on-chain transaction. \nWith the current ongoing attack on chain by the big blockers orditards the fees are pretty high, around 14-20k sats to open or modify a channel. \nThese wallet will open a channel with your initial deposit, so you'll want to have a large enough channel opened to receive all of your sats, this is done by sending all of your sats at once to avoid multiple fees, it can be quite scary, if you wanted to be safe, be prepared to pay the fees at least twice. All in all, just think it through carefully as the fees are quite expensive at the moment.\n\nIf all of this is still over your head, you can try moving your funds to another custodial wallet like Blink or Alby, but they also face the same risk.\n\nI will try to keep you guys updated on the situation.",
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}