Australian exchanges drop Monero and other anonymous cryptocurrencies from listings

Privacy-focused coins such as Monero and ZCash have fallen out of favour with several Australian cryptocurrency exchanges.

On Monday, August 24, the well-known bitcoin evangelist and founder of Nugget’s News, Alex Saunders, shared on Twitter a screenshot of a message from CoinSpot’s management. It states that as of August 31, trading in pairs involving Monero (XMR), Komodo (KMD), Bytecoin (BCN) and ZCoin (XZC) will be halted on the platform.

“As I always say, [anonymous coins] – this is an important technology for cryptocurrency infrastructure, but poor investments, because exchanges will delist them,” commented Saunders.

Like I always say, important technology for #crypto infrastructure, but a bad investment as exchanges will continue to delist» 🕵️🔐🚨 #PrivacyCoins #Delisting pic.twitter.com/muOC84Z7xP

— Alex Saunders 🇦🇺👨🔬 (@AlexSaundersAU) August 24, 2020

Users noted that there was no announcement on CoinSpot’s site or on the exchange’s official social channels. The mystery was resolved soon afterwards: representatives of the platform confirmed the authenticity of the letter, adding that this message was received only by clients whose accounts held the listed coins.

Communication was sent to users holding these coins. Further information will be published shortly.

— CoinSpot (@coinspotau) August 24, 2020

Other commentators were surprised that Komodo ended up among the coins to be delisted. The debate revolved around whether KMD could be regarded as a privacy coin. One argument was that Investopedia’s description of the cryptocurrency mentions zero-knowledge proof technology.

It is a privacy coin- its just not marketed that way.

— Johnny Gonzo (@joliwa) August 24, 2020

well they need sort out their fkn marketing than…. if every believes it and its getting delisted because it.
-from 3 months agohttps://t.co/X6m28NxIlZ

From their own site……??? pic.twitter.com/X8s7aHDcd2

— Johnny Gonzo (@joliwa) August 24, 2020

The proceedings ended with representatives of the project itself explaining that all privacy features had been removed from the main chain. Developers can still launch smart contracts with privacy features, but the Komodo chain itself is not private. According to the commentary, Komodo plans to contact CoinSpot to determine the reasons for the upcoming delisting.

We removed all of the privacy features from the main chain. Developers can still launch smart chains with privacy features but the Komodo chain isn’t private. We’re reaching out to them now to clear it up.

— PTYX (@ptyx11) August 24, 2020

Coinspot is not the only Australian exchange opting to delist “anonymous coins.” According to a tweet by XRP Adventure, also from August 31, Swiftx will halt trading of privacy-focused cryptocurrencies. Their list, in addition to XMR, KMD and XZC, includes Dash (DASH), ZCash (ZEC), Verge (XVG), Horizen (ZEN) and Groestlcoin (GRS).

As Reddit users reminded, earlier this summer the Coinjar exchange took similar steps, removing Zcash from trading.

In 2018 CoinSpot was among the first Australian cryptocurrency exchanges to register with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC). The regulation formed part of the authorities’ AML/CTF measures.

The latest steps by local trading platforms, as reflected in CoinSpot’s message, relate to regulatory requirements. As users converge, this likely concerns meeting the FATF guidelines.

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