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Crypto exchange Bittrex to delist privacy coins Monero, Zcash, and Dash.

Cyptocurrency exchange Kraken has dropped the top privacy coin, Monero, citing regulatory compliance as the reason behind the
Cyptocurrency exchange Kraken has dropped the top privacy coin, Monero, citing regulatory compliance as the reason behind the delisting.

The Bermuda-registered crypto exchange Bittrex announced on January 1 that it will delist privacy coins Monero (XMR), ZCash, and Dash on Friday, January 15. The crypto exchange did not provide a reason for the delistings, but all three are privacy coins—a class of cryptocurrencies that offer untraceable transactions. Monero is private by default, and ZCash and Dash have an option for private transactions. Privacy-centered coins are under scrutiny by regulators, who consider them facilitators of illegal activity.

Bittrex cited evolving regulatory standards and other compliance issues for delisting coins.

As reported earlier, Darknet market White House Market, for instance, only accepts Monero transactions because of its privacy features; it’s easier to trace Bitcoin transactions. The crypto exchange cited “evolving regulatory standards and other compliance issues” among its reasons for delisting tokens. Earlier this week, Bittrex was one of several exchanges to delist XRP after the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against XRP’s creators for raising $1.3 billion in ongoing unregistered securities sales. Ripple has denied the allegations and will fight the lawsuit.

The price of privacy coins went into freefall after Bittrex’s announcement.

The popular privacy coins’ prices went into freefall after Bittrex’s announced today that it would delist Monero, Dash, and Zcash later this month. The sudden announcement by the exchange sent the prices of these privacy coins into a downward spiral. Since the announcement by Bittrex, the price of XMR is down by 12.4%, ZEC is down 9.5%, and DASH is down 8.7%, according to CoinGecko. That’s an average drop of 10%. Several other crypto exchanges, such as US-based ShapeShift, South Korea’s Bithumb, and the Netherlands-based exchange, LiteBit, have already delisted privacy coins to comply with governments concerned with money laundering.

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