Macauley Peterson

OKX, a major cryptocurrency exchange, announced its decision to delist 20 spot trading pairs in the new year.



Among the tokens listed are several privacy-focused cryptocurrencies, including the three largest: Monero (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/xmr">XMR</a>), Zcash (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/zec">ZEC</a>), and Dash (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/dash">DASH</a>). The exchange has already suspended deposits of these crypto assets, and trading will cease on Jan. 5.



The rationale for the delisting is not specified in the <a href="https://www.okx.com/help/okx-to-delist-several-spot-trading-pairs-12-29">announcement</a>, published Friday, other than to say that it is “based on feedback from users” and that the tokens “do not fulfill our listing criteria.”



Other cryptoassets that are not privacy coins are also slated for delisting. Blockworks has requested clarification on the exchange&#8217;s policies.



Customers have until March 5, 2024, to withdraw these assets.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1750" height="438" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/okx-delisting.jpg?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-76651" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/okx-delisting.jpg?w=1750 1750w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/okx-delisting.jpg?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/okx-delisting.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/okx-delisting.jpg?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/okx-delisting.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/okx-delisting.jpg?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/okx-delisting.jpg?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/okx-delisting.jpg?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/okx-delisting.jpg?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1750px) 100vw, 1750px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Full list of trading pairs to be delisted; Source: <a href="https://www.okx.com/help/okx-to-delist-several-spot-trading-pairs-12-29">OKX</a></figcaption></figure></div>


Leading crypto exchange <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/binance">Binance</a> has been grappling with policies around privacy coins, announcing a decision to delist several prominent ones in May before backtracking in June.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-backtracks-delisting-privacy-coins">Binance backtracks on delisting privacy coins in some EU nations</a>



As a category, privacy coins have been a source of tension between the cryptocurrency industry&#8217;s foundational ethos of privacy and pseudonymity, and the increasing pressure to comply with global regulatory standards.



Privacy coins are designed to provide greater anonymity than other cryptoassets such as Bitcoin by obscuring the transaction details, including the transacting parties and amounts.



However, this very feature of enhanced <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/privacy">privacy</a> has drawn scrutiny from regulators worldwide, who fear the technologies underpinning these assets can be misused for illicit activities such as <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/aml">money laundering</a>, terrorist financing, and circumventing economic <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/sanctions">sanctions</a>.



In response to these concerns, cryptocurrency exchanges are caught between customers’ legitimate demands to protect their privacy rights while complying with the laws and regulations that govern financial transactions globally.



For instance, the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/mica">MiCA</a>) <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32023R1114">states</a>: “The operating rules of the trading platform for crypto-assets shall prevent the admission to trading of crypto-assets that have an inbuilt anonymisation function unless the holders of those crypto-assets and their transaction history can be identified by the crypto-asset service providers operating a trading platform for crypto-assets.”



Technical solutions are available to meet this obligation, mandated by December 2024, but they require cooperation between developers of privacy coins and crypto exchanges. For instance, the Zcash community has been discussing options for months on its public forum, proposing <a href="https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/important-potential-binance-delisting/45954/94">four solutions</a>.



According to community member “aquietinvestor”, Binance has rejected these proposals.



“The only available course of action is to implement the ‘exchange-only’ address type. Failing to do so will result in ZEC being delisted from the Binance exchange. Binance is giving us until February 29, 2024 to comply,” they <a href="https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/important-potential-binance-delisting/45954/103">wrote</a> on Tuesday.



There are two types of addresses in Zcash: transparent (t-addresses), similar to Bitcoin addresses, and shielded (z-addresses), which provide strong privacy protections.



An &#8220;exchange-only&#8221; addresses are &#8216;transparent&#8217; and do not offer the privacy features of z-addresses, but could be required by exchanges for deposit and withdrawal transactions.



Blockworks requested comment from Binance, but has not yet received a response.



The practical impact of OKX&#8217;s decision may be limited based on recent trading volume figures. OKX’s largest <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/zcash">trading pair</a> for XMR had about $2.5 million in 24-hour volume, and its ZEC <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/zcash">trading pair</a> total about $7.5 million, according to CoinGecko — roughly half of Binance’s volume.



However, the move reflects a larger shift in the cryptocurrency landscape where exchanges are increasingly prioritizing regulatory compliance.



Finding ways to balance privacy with preventing misuse of privacy preserving technologies is an ongoing focus of research within the crypto industry.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/privacy-zk-tech-data">Privacy is paramount, and zero-knowledge cryptography is the way</a>



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Binance

Privacy coins Zcash and Monero face delisting by crypto exchanges

Jack Kubinec

Zooko Wilcox is stepping down as CEO of Electric Coin Company, the entity behind the development of Zcash.&nbsp;



Former senior vice president of growth Josh Swihart will succeed Wilcox, the company <a href="https://electriccoin.co/blog/welcoming-a-new-season-at-ecc-a-message-from-the-bootstrap-board-of-directors/">announced</a> Monday.&nbsp;



Electric Coin Co. was <a href="https://z.cash/learn/who-created-zcash/#:~:text=The%20Zerocoin%20Electric%20Coin%20Company,was%20launched%20in%20October%202016.">founded</a> in 2015 with Wilcox at the helm to foster the development of Zcash, which debuted in 2016. Zcash is a privacy-focused crypto that <a href="https://z.cash/learn/what-are-zero-knowledge-proofs/">uses</a> opt-in shielded addresses and zk-SNARKs to hide users’ financial information. On Bitcoin, by <a href="https://z.cash/learn/how-is-zcash-different-than-bitcoin/">contrast</a>, transactions are all publicly recorded on the blockchain.&nbsp;



At launch, Zcash emerged as one of a number of major privacy cryptos, trading well over $1,000 shortly after its release. Zcash (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/zec">ZEC</a>) was worth around $28.50 on Monday afternoon.



In a blog <a href="https://medium.com/@zooko/a-new-era-for-me-personally-eae2de3a936e">post</a> explaining his departure, Wilcox said Zcash began to take over his identity during his time as chief executive.&nbsp;



“I don’t think this conflation of Zcash with me personally is healthy for me, and I don’t think it’s healthy for Zcash. Zcash’s role in human history is, and will be, much bigger than any individual,” the 49-year-old Wilcox wrote.&nbsp;



As for what he’ll do next, Wilcox said he was “still blinking and rubbing my eyes.”



“Anything that I could commit to would need to be focused on human freedom, because freedom is what breathes life into everything that we love and value,” he wrote.



Electric Coin Co. said Wilcox would stay as director of the board of the Bootstrap Project, Electric Coin Co’s parent company.



In a blog post, Swihart <a href="https://electriccoin.co/blog/stewarding-a-new-season-at-ecc/">said</a> Zcash’s focus in the “new season” would be to “find product-market fit.”&nbsp;



Swihart said his near-term priorities would be to iterate more quickly, increase Zcash’s utility, and make Electric Coin Company financially sustainable.



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