Huobi to remove Monero and other privacy coins, citing regulatory pressure

The exchange cited its own token management policy and compliance efforts as the primary reasons for removing seven privacy coins. New

Cryptocurrency exchange Huobi will remove seven different privacy coins from its platform as regulatory pressure mounts on anonymity-enhanced currencies (AEC).

The exchange announced that it has terminated the trading service for a number of privacy tokens, including Dash (DSH), Decred (DCR), Firo (FIRO), Monero (XMR), Verge ( XVG), Zcash (ZEC) and Horizen (ZEN).

These tokens will begin delisting on September 19, while deposit services ceased on Monday in conjunction with the announcement. Users have been asked to cancel open orders for Privacy Coins, while the exchange will cancel all existing orders at the time of delisting and credit users' one-time accounts.

Related: Huobi's US Expansion Draws Closer After Obtaining FinCEN License

Huobi noted that it strives to meet the compliance policies of more than 100 countries where its services are available. The announcement notes efforts to comply with the latest financial regulations, as well as the company's token management rules.

Article 17(16) of its list of rules deals with "Concealment or suspension of trading", which gives Huobi Global the right to conceal or suspend token trading under the following circumstances. Clause 16 relates in particular to private rooms:

"The token is a privacy token, does not support offline signatures, or its node source codes are not open source."

The exchange has also confirmed that it has terminated trading services on its futures, margin, ETP, OTC and trading bot services. Cointelegraph reached out to Huobi Global to determine the driving force behind this decision and whether regulators in certain countries required the respective privacy coins to be delisted.

Huobi plans to enter the US market after acquiring a Money Services Business (MSB) license from the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in July 2022.

As Cointelegraph previously reported,