Key Takeaways:
- The tokens to be delisted include DASH, DCR, FIRO, XMR, XVG, ZEC, and ZEN.
- Privacy coins preserve anonymity by obscuring the flow of money across their networks.
Leading crypto exchange Huobi Global to delist seven privacy tokens starting at 08:00 (UTC), September 19, 2022, amid increasing regulatory scrutiny on privacy coins. The tokens to be delisted include DASH, DCR, FIRO, XMR, XVG, ZEC, and ZEN.
“Huobi Global strictly complies with the compliance policies of every country and region and always endeavors to safeguard our users’ assets,” the official announcement reads. The exchange has said the move was “in compliance with the latest financial regulations.”
Huobi has further urged its users to cancel any open orders they have for each coin. If they don’t, those orders will be auto-canceled when delisting, and relevant assets will be credited to users’ accounts.
Privacy coins stand out from other cryptocurrencies because of their difficulty to track. Privacy coins preserve anonymity by obscuring the flow of money across their networks.
For e.g., privacy coins like Monero do not have fully transparent public ledgers, making transactions difficult or impossible to track by third parties.
Not only do these coins attempt to hide the identities of their holders, but they also differ from regular cryptocurrencies by deliberately concealing wallet addresses and transaction amounts.
Last month, the U.S. Treasury Department banned the use of the Tornado Cash crypto mixer, alleging that it has been used to launder over $7 billion worth of cryptocurrency since its creation in 2019.
The ban has stirred up interesting discussions on the need for financial privacy in the Web3 space. Privacy advocates argue that banning coin mixers underlines the right to anonymity.
Like Tornado Cash, privacy coins also facilitate anonymous transactions, making it extremely difficult to trace crypto wallets. Following the ban, the crypto economy’s top privacy coins lost over 8% in USD value.
The top privacy coin by market capitalization, monero lost 8.82% during the 24-hour period from late in the evening on August 8 into the early morning trading sessions on August 9.
Zcash (ZEC) followed the same pattern, losing 8.75% against the U.S. dollar following the U.S. Treasury ban.
