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- Trade with Monero, Zcash, and Dash will be removed on January 15, 2021, on the exchange Bittrex.
- Experts predict an increase in the price of Monero in the long term.
The increase in pressure from regulators on entities within the crypto market is shaping up to be one of the most important issues of 2021. As more institutions become interested in investing in this asset class, regulators will feel “an obligation to protect” and “reduce the risk” for users.
In that regard, crypto exchange Bittrex has announced that it will no longer support trading for the following trading pairs: Bitcoin/Monero, Ethereum/Monero, and Tether/Monero. This will also apply to the privacy coins Zcash and Dash.
Users will have until Friday, January 15, 2021, at 23:00 UTC to complete any activity related to the referred privacy coins. After that, trading will be removed with the possibility of making withdrawals up to 30 days later.
However, Bittrex makes it clear that this period can be shortened. It is recommended that users withdraw any funds in Monero, Zcash, and Dash before the trade suspension date. In a press release, Bittrex announces:
There may be circumstances under which a user may not be able to withdraw a token due to events outside of Bittrex’s control. For example, there could be technical difficulties (e.g., the blockchain is broken) which prevent users from being able to withdraw their tokens.
Crackdown on Monero and other privacy coins?
A few days ago, Bittrex announced that it would remove XRP from its platform after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs. The regulator claims that XRP is a security and accuses the payment solutions company of conducting an illegal sale of the asset.
Other exchanges may follow Bittrex and remove the privacy coins from their lists. Although, Kraken co-founder and CEO Jesse Powell indicated that they have “heard nothing” from the regulators. It appears that Bittrex’s decision is related to “something specific to their business,” said Powell.
Bittrex probably tries to comply with a norm set by a payment processor or bank to keep their account open. Powell said that these entities can “make up any irrational rule” and platforms are forced to comply with it. The General Counsel for Compound Jake Chervisky said:
It’s deeply disappointing to see exchanges remove assets just because they have privacy-preserving features. There’s no law or regulation requiring this, just DOJ’s opinion that privacy is “indicative of possible criminal conduct.”
Trader Michaël van de Poppe believes that the regulations will have a negative impact on prices in the short term. At the time of publication, XMR, ZEC, and DASH show losses of more than 10% in the last 24 hours. Just like XRP, these privacy coins could continue to suffer a drop in price in the coming weeks.
However, in the long run, users may choose to use assets such as Monero to protect their privacy. This will depend on the severity of the regulations that are implemented in each country. The trader added:
(…) those regulations pave the way for institutions and global adoption of crypto in general and is inevitably bullish on the long term landscape of the market.
