Bittrex will remove the Monero, ZCash and DASH crypto-currencies from its platform on January 16, 2021.
Without giving any reason, the American exchange Bittrex, but whose head office is located in Liechtenstein, will remove from its platform 3 anonymous crypto-currencies
Bittrex has announced that it will withdraw trading from XMR, DASH and ZEC on 15 January 2021 at 23:00 UTC, which Bitcoin Era corresponds to 16 January 2021 at midnight French time. From that moment on you will no longer be able to trade Monero, ZCash and DASH regardless of the associated pair: BTC, ETH, USDT or USD.
After the removal of these markets you will have up to 30 days to remove these three cryptos from the platform. You can send them to another trading platform or to your personal portfolios. Do this quickly to avoid the withdrawal time being shortened and your encryptions being blocked. Indeed, in its announcement Bittrex announces that the time limits are likely to be shortened.
Why are these crypto-currencies delisted?
No reason is clearly stated. However, these crypto-currencies have been on the radar of regulators in many countries for some time. A little over a month ago it was South Korea that announced a ban on trading in anonymous crypto currencies (privacy coins) on 21 March 2021.
They believe that anonymous crypto-currencies make it easier to carry out illicit activities. Indeed, they do not allow to track correctly or accurately all movements of funds made contrary to Bitcoin. Indeed, even if a KYC (verification of identity) is carried out at the time of the purchase of these cryptos, their use is not traceable (even if the CypherTrace company has patented the tracing of these transactions).
As the Bittrex crypto exchange originated in the United States and targeted a large American audience, it is possible that the STABLE Act may have influenced their decision.
Will other platforms follow?
It is legitimate to wonder whether other crypto-currency buying and trading platforms will suppress these trading pairs. We are thinking in particular of large exchanges operating in countries that are not very open to this type of encryption (i.e. almost all countries in the world). Cryptos trading and purchasing platforms do their utmost to keep regulators happy, especially when you want to go public, for example.