Bittrex to Stop Trading Three Key Privacy Coins – Crypto Briefing

Crypto exchange Bittrex has chosen to remove three of the main privacy coins from the cryptocurrency space. The exchange will remove Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC) and Dash (DASH) on January 15.

Bittrex takes drastic action

News of the delisting was shared via the company blog this week, although no reason was given for the decision.

The three tokens are often described as crypto coins that preserve confidentiality. Unlike Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, privacy coins keep transaction amounts and addresses hidden.

Some to have speculated that delisting is a response to regulatory pressures. In particular, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) announced new anti-money laundering measures last month, which may have led Bittrex to delist the three coins.

Bittrex notes that trading will close at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time on January 15. Users will have up to 30 days to withdraw their assets, although “in some cases the withdrawal period may be shortened”.

All three pieces have suffered a significant price tag since the news garnered more attention this afternoon. XMR and ZEC are both down around 9.5% in the past 24 hours, while DASH is down 8.9%.

Generalized delisting

In the past, other exchanges have also removed privacy coins. OKEx Korea and Upbit stopped exchanging the same coins in 2019 for similar reasons. Bitbay also retired Monero shortly thereafter.

Bittrex shares are exceptional, however, as they were one of the first major US-based exchanges to write off all three coins. It remains to be seen if more exchanges will follow or if Bittrex’s delisting will even have a lasting effect on the cryptocurrency market.

The move follows Bittrex’s decision to stop trading on XRP due to the ongoing dispute between Ripple and the SEC. Many other exchanges have made the same decision.

At the time of this writing, this author holds ETH, UNI, ADA, BAT, IOTA, and other altcoins.

This article has been updated to reflect that other US-based exchanges, including Shapeshift, have previously written off all three coins.