- Bittrex will be delisting three privacy coins in two weeks time
- No reason has been given for the delisting, with some wondering if regulations are imminent
- The U.S. has not suggested it will ban privacy coins
The news that Bittrex will be delising three privacy coins in two weeks’ time has led to confusion among the cryptocurrency community, who have been left wondering whether Bittrex knows something they don’t or if they’re just being super cautious. While some countries have made concrete plans to ban privacy coins, the U.S. has made no such moves, and with Bittrex offering no information as to why they have chosen to delist the situation remains confused.
Bittrex Privacy Coins to be Gone by January 15
Bittrex announced last week that it was removing all Monero (XMR), ZCash (ZEC), and Dash (DASH) pairs on its exchange from January 15. Bittrex gave no reason for the removal of the three tokens from their global platforms, but it is evident that the matter is related to the increase in regulation of the cryptocurrency sector, and privacy coins in particular.
While the potential for increased oversight of cryptocurrencies has been on the agenda thanks to FinCen’s desire to collect information on all crypto transactions over $3,000, there are no rules in place for privacy coins, at least in the US.
Could the U.S. be Following South Korea?
Some countries, like South Korea, have taken legal steps towards banning privacy coins, but the U.S. has done nothing more than warn against them being used for illegal activity. Yet, Bittrex has jumped the gun and seen fit to remove privacy coins from their list of tradeable assets anyway. Interestingly, they have shown no signs of meeting out the same treatment to XRP, despite other U.S. exchanges hurrying to delist XRP after the Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuit against it.
The desilting of privacy coins by Bittrex raises the concern that the exchange is aware of an imminent ruling and it is acting ahead of time. However, it may just be being super cautious and ripping the band aid off ahead of time, although it won’t stop anyone getting hold of the tokens – they can be picked up on any number of decentralized exchanges.
