South Korean crypto exchange, Korbit, announces that it will no longer support five cryptocurrencies. The excluded currencies are Dash (DASH), Steem (STEEM), Zcash (ZEC), Monero (XMR), and Augur (REP), following Japan’s exchange Coincheck’s decision to do the same.
The decision by Coincheck came after it was hacked, forcing Japan’s regulators to increase their oversight of the crypto industry and resulted in additional conditions that each of the active digital currency exchanges had to abide by. Following this, cryptos that provide their holders with higher levels of privacy were seen as undesirable, due to their potential for involvement in criminal activities like money laundering.
As a result, Coincheck delisted these cryptos in order to comply with the regulators’ new rules. The same cannot be said for Korbit, however, which was not pressured by the regulators of South Korea, as far as it is currently known. Instead, Korbit decided of its own free will to follow Coincheck’s example, and exclude these cryptos that were previously listed as ‘Other Digital Assets’.
The exchange has made a public declaration on their website that the currencies include Monero (XMR), Steem (STEEM), Dash (DASH), Augur (REP), and Zcash (ZEC). The exchange’s customers will be able to buy these cryptos until May 28th and sell them until June 21st. After these dates, Korbit will stop dealing in these cryptos. Interestingly, the exchange hinted at a possibility of their return in the future, although a date was not specified.
Korbit also said that the exchange is trying to ensure safe trades of various cryptos, but they have yet to determine when these particular ones will be able to return. Because of this, the exchange has advised its customers to get their affairs in order, while they still have the chance.
Reasons behind the decision
So far, Korbit has not released any other explanation regarding the exclusion of cryptos. Some believe that the exchange has expected that rules similar to those brought by Japan’s regulators might be announced. Others think that Korbit did this because the exchange plans to expand to Japan’s market, and wants to be accepted without any issues.
Whatever the case may be, it doesn’t change much when it comes to privacy-based currencies. These have been especially popular due to their ability to grant anonymity to their users but their very nature is what bothers the regulators, due to their potential for misuse. So far, other exchanges have not followed Coincheck and Korbit in this regard, and it remains to be seen whether they will.
