Ashigaru: what it is and how to use it
Ashigaru is a community fork of Samourai Wallet, with an Android wallet and the Ashigaru Terminal for desktop. It relaunched Whirlpool (CoinJoin) in June 2025; it is a tool for people who understand UTXOs and accept the legal context involved.
Overview
| Category | Software wallets |
|---|---|
| KYC required | No |
| Open source | Yes |
| Price | Free; 5% anti-Sybil fee on the pool size to join (Oct 2026) |
| Official site | ashigaru.rs |
How do you use Ashigaru?
- Type ashigaru.rs by hand (clones of privacy wallets exist) and download only from the official site.
- Create a new wallet, write the seed by hand and confirm the backup.
- Test recovery with a small amount before moving significant sums.
- Understand UTXOs, labels and coin control before entering a pool; start with a small amount.
- Use Ashigaru Terminal on desktop, which works only over Tor, for Whirlpool rounds.
- Consider PayNym (BIP47) to receive without reusing an address.
What are the limits and cautions?
- Samourai's founders were arrested in Apr 2024, pleaded guilty in 2025 and were sentenced in Nov 2025; the Samourai service was shut down. The legal and risk context of using a coordinator is real.
- The coordinator does not hold your coins but sees round information; coordinator risk is a new and uncomfortable point.
Other Software wallets tools
How to Buy Bitcoin Anonymously — See the book on Amazon