For starters, Wasabi Wallet is a privacy-focused Bitcoin Digital wallet. It is a software-based wallet and you can use it to store, monitor, and manage your Bitcoins using this one.
It is currently available for Windows, Linux, as well as the macOS and, is not available as a mobile wallet because of lesser security and other technical reasons.
Let’s Dive in deeper and know about the features of the Wasabi Wallet:
Validation:
The Wasabi Wallet is using a unique and new type of validation that uses a central server anonymously facilitating communication over the Bitcoin Peer to Peer (P2P) Network and Tor.
Wasabi wallet only supports bitcoins and can facilitate trading. A feature that we at CoinTikka personally like is that it has a Private key which basically means that the user is the one who has the access and can keep it – It is personal.
Privacy Focused:
Privacy can be considered as more of a relative factor based on Bitcoin. However, we know that BTC can use a bigger and better level of anonymity.
In fact, if you have been following bitcoin closely you could be well aware that the Bitcoin Core Protocol has not really changed over the last few years. But that does not mean the tools used have not.
While it is not bad to admit people complaining of their losing privacy, a lot of replaceable tools have been released which are open source too.
Wasabi Wallet is the by-product of various such open source developers who have made the Wasabi desktop Bitcoin Wallet.
Technical Specifications and Overview:
Wasabi Wallet is available for the 3 major platforms – Linux, Windows, and macOS.
The Wasabi wallet, however, is not available as a mobile wallet because the team felt that it is not yet secure enough (as privacy is one of their core focus).
Not only this, but they have also admitted that it might not be available as a Mobile wallet anytime soon too.
Wasabi uses a central server anonymously and is based on Bech32 only.
The only problem it could practically face is from sources that might not have yet implemented Bech32 while receiving funds from an exchange.
Which is something you would not be doing when funds are sent from a centralized server exchange, right?
Usage:
In spite of having so many advanced and privacy-focused features, using Wasabi is as easy as using any other desktop client. The user interface is clean and simple and you can get hold of it really soon.
The prompts are also very snappy and smooth. The installation process is fairly easy and if you have installed any other bitcoin wallet, for example, Electrum, you won’t have any problems.
You will be needing your 12-word seed after creating your bech32 address. For this you will have 2 choices:
- Create a New Wallet
- Import an Existing Wallet
So, you could say that Wasabi is one great way to make bitcoin anonymous again. Coinjoin is the tech behind Wasabi, which is a very good and privacy-enhanced way to send your Bitcoins safely and securely.
Installation Procedure – How to Install Wasabi Wallet?
Step 1:
The first thing that you need to do is go to the website and download the Wasabi Wallet.
A quick note: There are a lot of Fake Websites that are launched and shut down every now and then, so it is necessary to not get fooled by such websites.
Their Original Web address is wasabiwallet.io (Once again, double-check and ensure that you are downloading and installing the software from the right website)
After you download and install the software, you need to spare some time for it to synchronize with the main network and connect to the peers, after which it is ready.
You then need to accept the Terms and Condition which will be the first screen that you will see when you open it for the first time.
Now go hands down and generate your wallet, after choosing a strong password. It is also advised that you note down your seed in a secure place so that you don’t miss out on it later.
Step 2:
After you have created the wallet, it is always recommended to test your password, as it might happen that you could have typed a letter or 2 wrong, unintentionally and Without the password, you won’t be able to open your wallet hence test the password.
Step 3:
Now is the time. Once you see that all the systems are ready, you need to press on receive and generate your receiving address.
Step 4:
Now you can send your Bitcoins to your receiving address. Once you send them and after confirmation, you have to click on CoinJoin.
At this point, you can check your Privacy Rating which would most probably be showing Red X Shield with an anonymity set of 1.
If you are wondering what anonymity means, consider it as a rating or something which resembles a mixed level of anonymity.
- The Yellow shield represents an anonymity mix in between 2 to 20.
- The Green shield represents an anonymity mix in between 21 to 49.
- The Green Shield that has a Check Mark is recommended and has an anonymity mix over 50.
Step 5:
Now you need to press select all and enter the password that you had previously set and then hit Enqueue Selected Coins.
This is a bit time consuming and so if you feel drowsy, you may want to grab a cup of coffee or maybe go on a walk.
Step 6:
Now you will see a pop up on your status bar which would be saying that “coins are enqueued and waiting to be mixed”.
You can also hit and press the giant shield to change your anonymity that is below in the form of a circle. However, we at CoinTikka recommend keeping it at 50.
Once the number of registered peers hit 100 the CoinJoin will start right away. If the registered peers do not hit 100/100, don’t worry, Coinjoin will start automatically once the registration timer is up.
Step 7:
Crucial Moment. Wait and see the trustless mix begin!
Step 8:
Once Coinjoin is complete (this depends on the amount you are mixing), your task is complete. The trustless method will automatically divide your coins, following the nature of CoinJoin.
If there are Bitcoins that are still remaining which have not reached your preferred anonymity and you have a rush, it is recommended to select all non-private and then only queuing the BTC which are remaining.
Step 9:
A feature that we love is that you can also send Bitcoins which you already consider private enough to be sent when others are still joining CoinJoin. To do this, you need to navigate to send > Select > Enter your password
Having learned about the installation process, let’s have a look at the pros and cons of using wasabi as a wallet.
Pros and Cons:
Pros of Wasabi Wallet:
- Very simple to use
- Easy to install
- Cheap with a 0.15% transaction fee
- Privacy Focused
- Uses Tor Automatically
Cons of Wasabi Wallet:
- You need a minimum transaction value of 0.1 Bitcoin
- If you do an extreme investigation and in-depth analysis, you may find some traces of transaction
- Active Sybil Attack can be done by the Co-Ordinator against specific coins.
- People often say that Zero Link Protocol is not fully ready for commercial usage and some vulnerability keeps popping up every now and then.
Finale Thoughts:
While Wasabi Wallet is really interesting and has a lot of demanded features, work can still be done on areas such as User Interface, Performance, and Stability too.
It is highly plausible that the Wasabi team to increase the much-needed privacy that users demanded it has a lot of potentials to get a much bigger user base.
It has the ability to sway user installs from its competitors. The ever-expanding set of features the team is offering since 2018 is at least worth a try.
That covers and wraps our review of the Wasabi Wallet. Share your thoughts with us and if you have any doubts or queries, feel free to comment them down below. We will help you with the same.
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