Two large South Korean exchanges announced that they would delist Litecoin because of new privacy features provided by the protocol. Litecoin will soon be removed from Bithumb and Upbit. This is due to modifications that were made to the coin which allow for greater privacy in transactions.
Bithumb, Upbit and Litecoin sent notices to the market regarding Litecoin. They stated that market support was being cut for the 20th largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization due to its newly activated Mimblewimble Extension Blocks network upgrade conflicting with South Korean anti money laundering (AML).
Upbit mentioned a trading Litecoin option that “enables users not to expose transaction information,” raising concern that an “anonymous transmission tech” will be added to the coin’s functionality.
Market support for Litecoin with Upbit will end on June 20, and users will have one month to withdraw funds from the exchange before July 20.
Bithumb is moving faster. The delisting notice stated that the exchange will not allow users to deposit Litecoin until June 8, and they have until July 25 for full withdrawal.
Litecoin can be purchased on all major cryptocurrency exchanges in the U.S. including Coinbase, FTX US and Binance US. It was also available through Robinhood in 2018,. However, South Korean exchanges may have changed their minds and made it difficult to purchase.
Coinbase, Robinhood and Binance US offer Litecoin exchange on their platforms.
In the past, exchanges were cautious about privacy coins which employ advanced privacy techniques that allow transactors to keep their anonymity. The most popular privacy coins are Zcash combined with Monero. They have a market value of almost $4.7 billion.
This cryptocurrency breed’s anonymity lends itself to illicit activities and can be used by hackers and scammers to launder funds. An Reuters Investigation found that Binance was used as a conduit to launder $2.35 Billion in funds. Monero was crucial to the success of nefarious actors who tried to purge their ill-gotten crypto via the exchange.
Binance described the investigation as “woefully misleading” and suggested it was based upon “outdated information from 2019, and unverified personal testimony as a crutch for establishing a false narrative,” in a statement that was shared with decrypt.
Litecoin, one of the most established cryptocurrencies, was once the third-largest by market capitalization. It’s still accessible on almost all U.S. crypto exchanges, but that could change if companies take similar steps to Upbit and Bithumb.
