Bitcoin
Bitcoin Wallet Trezor Will Censor Transactions With New Functionality; users revolt
Physical bitcoin and cryptocurrency wallet Trezor has taken a dangerous step by adding a new feature that promises more “privacy” to users.
This Wednesday (19), the manufacturer of the physical bitcoin wallet Trezor officially announced the implementation of the coinjoin feature, a tool to improve the privacy of cryptocurrency transactions.
However, the what was supposed to be an extremely positive announcement turned into a scandal.
Blocking of Onlyfans and supporters of civil armament
Trezor implemented the partnership with the wallet company Wasabi Wallet, responsible for the coinjoin process.
This solution provider has a policy of censor unwanted bitcoin transactions. This includes any suspected bitcoin transaction: buy ammo and weapons even legallyhaving gone through sites like Onlyfans and others in the sector, buy any kind of legal drug or illegal and even do donations to journalistic entities censored by the government.
In addition, Wasabi complies with the US government’s list of organizations deemed to be irregular (OFAC), which has already included news organizations such as Wikileaks.
Transactions analyzed by data broker
And how does Wasabi block these transactions? Using a blockchain data “negotiator”.
The coinjoin provider partners with Chainalysis, which buys and sells data on the bitcoin blockchain to authoritarian governments, surveillance companies and cryptocurrency exchanges.
All Wasabi transactions are sent to this organization. In turn, Chainalysis processes the data and sells the information of cryptocurrency users to make the tool increasingly effective in ending the privacy of the customers themselves.
That is, in addition to providing a tool that will be used for censorship, Trezor is also allowing its users’ data to be used by a partner analysis company of Wasabi.
Trezor blocks customers on Twitter for warning against censorship
In addition to all the problems, Trezor has been blocking users and hiding responses with any criticism of the partnership in the official announcement tweet.
One user only asked why the hardware wallet company “opted for a solution that leaves out government-sanctioned organizations,” and as a result, he had his questions hidden on Twitter.
Another user suggested that the company change its name to “cenzor“, toying with the idea of censoring bitcoin transactions.
Trezor, a company that wants to destroy privacy?
Trezor’s action surprised many cryptocurrency enthusiasts. However, in 2022 the company wanted to implement a mandatory identification process for bitcoin addresses.
The repercussion was so negative on Twitter and social networks that the company gave up.
Will the company back down this time?
