Crypto exchange venture, Shapeshift announced in a recently released statement that it will no longer list privacy tokens, Dash and Monero.
In a somewhat surprising move, the coins’ delisting is coming without prior notification from the renowned crypto exchange. Furthermore, the firm has also stated that they do not want to be a target for authorities as they have been clamping down on the coins’ users.
Authorities believe that most of the users of privacy coins like Zcash, Monero, and Dash have a higher chance of being involved in illegal dealings because of the digital assets’ nature.
Shapeshift still mum on the reason for delisting privacy coins
In the news that was first shared by a news outlet in the United Kingdom, Decrypt, the reporter claimed that since the delisting, the exchange has refused to comment on why it did. When quizzed further, a respondent of the Erik Voorhees owned outfit has remained tight-lipped as to why the delisting happened and why the firm was keeping it under wraps.
Privacy coins came into the spotlight after major authorities across the globe found out that investors, government agents, and other agencies were using it to carry out illegal transactions.
This has further led to a crackdown on the coins by authorities worldwide, which has seen some degree of actions taken against exchanges listing the coins. The most popular event of a crackdown by authorities came in 2019; after a famous Korea-based crypto outfit, OKEx was forced to delist most of the privacy coins on its platform, which included Dash, Monero, and Zcash.
This move seems to have been the wake-up call as South Korea announced to crypto exchanges that they should start delisting privacy coins beginning from January 2021.
South Korea asks exchanges to delist privacy coin starting from January 2021
Famous analyst John McAfee predicted the move to begin a clampdown on exchanges in the first quarter of 2020.
“Governments around the world will begin a systematic clampdown on exchanges offering privacy coins. This law will be synonymous with that of marijuana; it won’t have serious sanctions and now what is left is not to allow your rights to be trampled upon as the constitution doesn’t say you cannot trade private coins;” McAfee said.
Shapeshift’s move has confused experts because the exchange had absolutely no reason to delist the privacy coins from their platforms.
With South Korea announcing that the sanction will be enforced when the new year begins, it’s only a matter of time before significant countries worldwide begin their clampdown on exchanges in their respective country.
Analysts have pointed out that the exchange might have a case with authorities, and delisting the privacy coins will put them in their good books. Another reason is that the exchange might want to free itself from the burden of having to delist the tokens later.
With 2020 already one of the most challenging years yet, one can see reason as to why Shapeshift will not want a disaster on its hands going into the new year.
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