diff --git a/core/atomic.c b/core/atomic.c
deleted file mode 100644
index 0b683ae706..0000000000
--- a/core/atomic.c
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,46 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Copyright (C) 2014 Freie Universität Berlin
- * Copyright (C) 2015 Eistec AB
- *
- * This file is subject to the terms and conditions of the GNU Lesser General
- * Public License v2.1. See the file LICENSE in the top level directory for more
- * details.
- */
-
-
-/**
- * @ingroup     core_util
- * @{
- *
- * @file
- * @brief       Generic implementation of the kernel's atomic interface
- *
- * @author      Kaspar Schleiser <kaspar@schleiser.de>
- * @author      Oliver Hahm <oliver.hahm@inria.fr>
- * @author      Joakim Nohlgård <joakim.nohlgard@eistec.se>
- *
- * @}
- */
-
-#include "irq.h"
-#include "cpu.h"
-#include "atomic.h"
-
-/* Set ARCH_HAS_ATOMIC_COMPARE_AND_SWAP within cpu.h to override this function */
-#if (ARCH_HAS_ATOMIC_COMPARE_AND_SWAP == 0)
-
-int atomic_cas(atomic_int_t *var, int old, int now)
-{
-    unsigned int mask = irq_disable();
-
-    if (ATOMIC_VALUE(*var) != old) {
-        irq_restore(mask);
-        return 0;
-    }
-
-    ATOMIC_VALUE(*var) = now;
-    irq_restore(mask);
-    return 1;
-}
-
-#endif
diff --git a/core/include/atomic.h b/core/include/atomic.h
deleted file mode 100644
index 615b1571d6..0000000000
--- a/core/include/atomic.h
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,153 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Copyright (C) 2014 Freie Universität Berlin
- * Copyright (C) 2015 Eistec AB
- *
- * This file is subject to the terms and conditions of the GNU Lesser
- * General Public License v2.1. See the file LICENSE in the top level
- * directory for more details.
- */
-
-/**
- * @addtogroup  core_util
- * @{
- *
- * @file
- * @brief       Functions for atomic handling of variables
- *
- * @author      Kaspar Schleiser <kaspar@schleiser.de>
- * @author      Joakim Nohlgård <joakim.nohlgard@eistec.se>
- */
-
-#ifndef ATOMIC_H
-#define ATOMIC_H
-
-#ifdef __cplusplus
-extern "C" {
-#endif
-
-/**
- * @brief Integer variable for use in atomic counters.
- *
- * @note    This type is a struct for hard type checking (let the compiler warn
- *          if int is assigned regularly).
- */
-typedef struct {
-    volatile int value;         /**< the actual value */
-} atomic_int_t;
-
-/**
- * @brief Initializer for atomic variables
- *
- * @param[in] val  initial value for the atomic integer
- */
-#define ATOMIC_INIT(val) {(val)}
-
-/**
- * @brief Atomic Compare and Swap
- *
- * Updates the value in var iff the current value of var is equal to old.
- *
- * @param[inout] var  Atomic variable to update
- * @param[in]    old  The old value to compare against
- * @param[in]    now  The new value to write to var
- *
- * @return 1 if the write completed successfully
- * @return 0 if the write failed.
- */
-int atomic_cas(atomic_int_t *var, int old, int now);
-
-/**
- * @brief Increment a counter variable by one atomically and return the old value.
- *
- * @param[inout]  var   Pointer to a counter variable.
- *
- * @return The value of *val* before the increment.
- */
-static inline int atomic_inc(atomic_int_t *var)
-{
-    int old;
-
-    do {
-        old = var->value;
-    } while (!atomic_cas(var, old, old + 1));
-
-    return old;
-}
-
-/**
- * @brief Decrement a counter variable by one atomically and return the old value.
- *
- * @param[inout]  var   Pointer to a counter variable.
- *
- * @return The value of *val* before the decrement.
- */
-static inline int atomic_dec(atomic_int_t *var)
-{
-    int old;
-
-    do {
-        old = var->value;
-    } while (!atomic_cas(var, old, old - 1));
-
-    return old;
-}
-
-/**
- * @brief Set an atomic variable to 1.
- *
- * @param[inout]  var   Pointer to an atomic variable to update
- *
- * @return 1 if the old value was 0 and the variable was successfully updated
- * @return 0 if the variable was already set
- */
-static inline int atomic_set_to_one(atomic_int_t *var)
-{
-    do {
-        if (var->value != 0) {
-            return 0;
-        }
-    } while (!atomic_cas(var, 0, 1));
-
-    return 1;
-}
-
-/**
- * @brief Set an atomic variable to 0.
- *
- * @param[inout]  var   Pointer to an atomic variable to update
- *
- * @return 1 if the old value was not 0 and the variable was successfully updated
- * @return 0 if the variable was already cleared
- */
-static inline int atomic_set_to_zero(atomic_int_t *var)
-{
-    int old;
-
-    do {
-        old = var->value;
-
-        if (old == 0) {
-            return 0;
-        }
-    } while (!atomic_cas(var, old, 0));
-
-    return 1;
-}
-
-/**
- * @brief Get the value of an atomic int
- *
- * @param[in]  var   Atomic variable
- *
- * @return the value of the atomic integer
- *
- * @note This can be used for non-thread-safe assignment of the atomic integer
- */
-#define ATOMIC_VALUE(var) ((var).value)
-
-#ifdef __cplusplus
-}
-#endif
-
-#endif /* ATOMIC_H */
-/** @} */