Wasabi Wallet 2.0, an open-source, non-custodial, privacy-focused Bitcoin wallet for desktop is officially up and running.
The wallet implements trustless WabiSabi coinjoin over the Tor anonymity network and features numerous improvements on its predecessor. Notably, it enhances Bitcoin privacy with more efficient and less restricted coinjoins. This way, users can reclaim their privacy without requiring a minimum denomination.
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The new version boasts a significantly revamped interface and color scheme, enhancing the user experience. Similarly, the login screen benefits from a completely remodeled layout and a sleek, transparent design. Wasabi Wallet 1.0 users can upgrade to the 2.0 version and use the same credentials to access their wallets.
The Wasabi Wallet 2.0 home page now displays the user’s balance, the privacy progress, the current exchange rate (BTC/USD) and the transaction history list.
The privacy progress shows how private a user’s wallet or coins are. Although you start with an empty wallet, giving you a privacy progress of 100%, this number is reduced to 0% when you send some Bitcoin to the wallet. Eventually, the number increases as more of those coins are coinjoined. Moreover, they can opt for the Discreet Mode (formerly Privacy Mode) to hide all the sensitive information on their screens. This option changes the numbers to hash symbols.
Coinjoin Strategies and Fees
The wallet provides 3 default coinjoin profiles with specific default settings for coinjoins. These options include Minimize costs, Maximize speed, and Maximize privacy. Users can choose one or create an entirely new and customized option. Through the latter, users can adjust the settings for the coinjoin through options like:
- Â Â Â Â Enable/disable Automatically start coinjoin
- Â Â Â Â Anonymity score target (2-300)
- Â Â Â Â Coinjoin time preference (hours, days, weeks, months)
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Wasabi creates trustless coinjoin transactions and uses Tor by default to route all its traffic. A coinjoin is a specific Bitcoin transaction where several peers unite to join their coins in a single transaction. This process enables them to provide some coins as inputs and new addresses as outputs to collectively build a BTC transaction.
Through Wasabi, the coinjoin coordinator can neither steal nor breach the participants’ privacy. Wasabi’s coinjoin implementation is trustless by design. This means that participants do not need to trust each other or any third party. Users can control the sending and receiving addresses via their private keys. Wasabi only coordinates the coinjoining process, helping users build a transaction safely and privately.
Coinjoining coins with a value above 0.01 BTC costs 0.3% as a coordinator fee + mining fees. Inputs of 0.01 BTC or below don’t pay coordinator fees, nor remixes after one transaction. Thus, a payment made with coinjoined funds allows the sender and the recipient to remix their coins without paying any coordinator fees.
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