Crypto exchange OKEx will delist five privacy coins as of the 10th of October. This is because they “violate” the FATF’s “travel rule”
September 16, 2019, | AtoZ Markets - Regulatory pressure on cryptocurrency exchanges to stop providing users with access to so-called privacy coins is growing.
OKEx to delist privacy coins in Korea due to increasing regulation
The South Korean branch of a global cryptocurrency exchange OKEx has announced it is planning to delist all five privacy coins which include monero (XMR), dash (DASH), zcash (ZEC), horizen (ZEN) and super bitcoin (SBTC).
According to the statement published on the Korean website of the crypto exchange, the privacy coins violate the laws of regulatory agencies and policies related to preventing money laundering and terrorism financing.
“[Anonymity tokens] violate the laws of regulatory agencies and major institutions. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has recommended abiding by the Travel Rule, and we are taking steps to follow it.” said a spokesperson of OKEx Korea.
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The FATF is an international organization that was established back in 1989 as the initiative of G7 in an attempt to develop and create policies and guidelines to combat global money laundering. Back in June 2019, the watchdog issued its final crypto guidelines in which it retained the “travel rule”.
This Travel Rule makes it compulsory for exchanges to obtain and share clients’ data with other platforms. The required information includes the originator’s name, account number, and location information, among others.
However, these five privacy-oriented coins are not compliant. By design, they shield the identity of the sender and recipient of a transaction.
As a result, OKEx South Korea will stop providing support for the coins as of the 10th of October. Nevertheless, customers have until December 10 to withdraw any of the five delisted coins from the platform.
According to an OKEx representative, this decision applies only to its Korea unit. Nevertheless, these coins will remain listed on the global OKEx platform.
More crypto exchanges could follow
Regulatory agencies around the world and crypto exchanges are imposing new regulations. Hence, their users would have to follow if they want to continue operating in the market.
In August, U.K.-based crypto exchange CEX.io also announced that it is delisting privacy coins zcash and dash taking into account “global regulatory and compliance developments.” Coinbase U.K. also recently discontinued support for zcash due to U.K.’s new banking partner ClearBank.
Notably, another South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Upbit has also announced the delisting of privacy coins on September 9. Probably, more crypto platforms that deal with privacy crypto will follow the suit.
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