Bittrex to delist privacy coins Monero, Zcash and Dash
Yet another global digital currency exchange is delisting popular privacy coins Monero, Dash and Zcash. Bittrex announced recently that it was delisting the three, giving users until January 15 to conduct any transactions.
As the digital currency industry grows and matures, regulations are coming into effect that seek to stamp out crime and protect investors. Privacy coins, which give their users anonymity, have been the biggest casualty of these regulations.
The latest exchange to give privacy coins the boot is Bittrex.
In an accompanying notice, the exchange informed its users that they have until 23:00 UTC on January 15 to trade these currencies.
It added, “After the markets are removed, Bittrex generally seeks to provide users up to 30 days to withdraw any delisted tokens, but in certain instances the withdrawal period may be shortened. Users should withdraw any tokens before the posted withdrawal deadline.”
Bittrex didn’t give the reason for the delisting. However, given that it only delisted the three privacy coins, it’s clear that their anonymity was their downfall.
Dash, on its part, has fought back the notion that it’s a dark coin. On Twitter, Dash likened its privacy functionality to Bitcoin. Responding to Bittrex, it claimed that the label of a privacy coin is “a misnomer for Dash.” It further revealed that it had contacted the exchange to request a meeting with its compliance team to solve the “misunderstanding.”
However, it’s to be remembered that Dash was originally named Darkcoin, with its key selling point at the time being its near-anonymous transactions.
The crackdown on dark coins comes as a little surprise to digital currency enthusiasts, especially the Bitcoin SV community. For several months now, several key figures in the BSV community have called out these coins for enabling crime and tainting the industry’s budding reputation. Moreover, the BSV community has continued to call for and work with regulators to stamp out crime.
Founding President of the Bitcoin Association Jimmy Nguyen had this to say on the delisting: “Light ultimately WINs over darkness. With its Satoshi Vision, Bitcoin was designed to be light – providing transparency for a more honest world.”
Other global exchanges have continued to delist dark coins as regulations catch up. In November last year, ShapeShift delisted the three due to regulatory concerns. Huobi and Bithumb have also delisted Monero in the past year.
Follow CoinGeek’s Crypto Crime Cartel series, which delves into the stream of groups—from BitMEX to Binance, Bitcoin.com, Blockstream, ShapeShift, Coinbase, Ripple and Ethereum—who have co-opted the digital asset revolution and turned the industry into a minefield for naïve (and even experienced) players in the market.
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