The hacked crypto exchange CoinCheck seeks to delist some privacy tokens on its exchange. This exchange suffered a huge attack which saw the exchange lose a large amount of NEM tokens (equivalent to $530 million). Since this hack, the exchange has been sold to a firm called Monex. This new firm as of last week Friday announced through their website that they would no longer support the trading, exchange, buying and selling of privacy tokens as from June. These privacy tokens allow users to be able to make transactions that are anonymous and at the same time untraceable. According to the website, this decision was reached after a review of the internal control of the exchange as part of the strategy of the new management to be able to deliver and also protect its users.
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The website stated that trading these cryptocurrencies is not appropriate for the exchange and this is in line with the anti-money-laundering committee's decision that has been issued to the exchange. According to a report that has not been fully confirmed, the FSA (Federal Service Agency) of Japan which is in charge of the licensing and regulation of all exchanges in the country has been pressurizing these exchanges to delist all privacy tokens from their various platforms. Prior to the January hack, the CoinCheck exchange had applied for a license to the FSA but was pending and since then they have not been able to get the license. These new owners of the exchange, on the other hand, have been licensed by the Agency because according to them, they have adhered strictly to the regulations and instructions that have been set aside by the FSA. Most people are of the opinion that the decision to delist these privacy tokens will be one move the new owners will take to be on good terms with the FSA.
Apart from privacy tokens, Augur will also be delisted from the exchange. Experts are of the opinion that this move is because the crypto has been used for unlicensed gambling by casinos in and out of the country. Some of the privacy tokens include the Monero (XMR), Dash (DASH) and the Zcash (ZEC).
This decision is reached because most countries are of the opinion that cryptocurrencies can be used for fraudulent activities and also fuel terrorism in the country. So they believe that these privacy tokens will definitely help people to carry out fraudulent activities as they cannot be traced back to them. According to the official website of the exchange, all traders who own these privacy tokens should withdraw these tokens and sell them off immediately. The decision to delist these tokens will begin in earnest from the 18th of June 2018.
While we do not know if more cryptocurrency exchanges based in Japan would be forced to delist these tokens, we can be sure that the FSA will stop at nothing to ensure that all cryptos that might pose a threat to the integrity of the nation will be banned.
Coins mentioned in post:
Quite impressive
Privacy coins will have their place but righg now they will just bring doubt into the crypto world if the NEM thing happens again.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse argued bitcoin, the flagship cryptocurrency, could soon stop influence the price of other cryptocurrencies.
This, as he sees the market highlight the differences various cryptocurrencies have.
For a period of time now, the prices of cryptocurrencies have been highly influenced by bitcoin – the first and most famous cryptocurrency among thousands. According to Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, this influence may soon come to an end as crypto markets begin to understand the differences between different digital assets.
On CNBC’s “Power Lunch,” Garlinghouse stated:
"There's a very high correlation between the price of XRP and the price of bitcoin, but ultimately these are independent open-sourced technologies… It's early, over time you'll see a more rational market and behaviors that reflect that."
Brad Garlinghouse
It should be noted that San Francisco-based Ripple is a company that developed a network for faster global financial payments and the XRP token, which financial institutions on Ripple’s network can use to transact quickly.
Garlinghouse stated that Ripple had signed 20 production contracts with new firms in the first quarter. These included the largest bank in Kuwait and MoneyGram. Despite the company’s performance, during said time period its XRP token lost over 80% of its value, making it the worst performing coin among top cryptocurrencies. According to CoinMarketCap data, bitcoin lost over 50% of its value during the first quarter, and the entire cryptocurrency market dropped with it.
Garlinghouse added that “this is "still a nascent industry,” in which speculation dominates trading. Per his words, it’s a matter of time until people “better understand the different use cases." The chief executive officer predicted that about 99 percent of the over 1,500 cryptocurrencies in circulation won’t exist in 10 years as “there’s gonna be a bit of a correction along the way.” This correction, per Garlinghouse, is going to wash out “players in the space that don’t actually solve a real problem.”
The CEO added that while some cryptocurrencies do not have a proven use case, they have been accused of conning investors through initial coin offerings (ICOs). He said:
"The SEC is getting involved as they should because there have been frauds committed. We have been an advocate of yes the government should get involved, the government should be protecting investors and companies but there's also examples of real utility.”
Brad Garlinghouse
Garlinghouse made it clear that: "If you own XRP, you don't own rights to the profits or any dividends to the company, [because] XRP has real utility."