OKEx South Korea announced that it will delist all anonymous coins on October 10, including Monero (XMR), Dash (DASH), Zcash (ZEC), horizen (ZEN) and SBTC.

In fact, this is not the first time that anonymous coins have been blocked. With the continuous increase in the size of the anonymous coin market, the sword of supervision has always been hanging on the anonymous coin.

In May 2018, under the pressure of the Japan Financial Services Agency, the Japanese exchange Coinchek delisted four anonymous coins.

In May 2018, Korbit, the main trading platform in South Korea, has stopped the trading of five anonymous coins today.

In June of this year, FATF issued a cryptocurrency regulation bill requiring exchanges to collect and transmit customer information during transactions. This information includes the transaction initiator's name, account number and address information, as well as the recipient's name and account information. This is equivalent to hitting the lifeline of anonymous coins directly. Once the G20 adopts the same new FATF regulations in its member countries, exchanges in most mainstream countries may delist anonymous coins.

It is foreseeable that there will be more and more incidents of anonymous coins being delisted in the future.

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1. How does the blockade of anonymous coins affect holders?

Everyone is very concerned about national signals such as policies, especially Chinese investors, who are coaxed by the media and analysts, which can easily cause market panic, and then start to sing empty words about anonymous coins. At this time, we need rational analysis, especially for investors holding anonymous coins, because many times the market atmosphere is wrong.

1. From a historical point of view, being blocked may be good for the currency price

International cryptocurrency anti-money laundering (AML) regulations were discussed at the G20 meeting in Japan in June, before formally expressing support for cryptocurrency guidelines set by the global money laundering watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

In fact, before that, the news that G20 will crack down on cryptocurrency money laundering came out. For Bitcoin and Ethereum, the attitude may be unclear, but for anonymous coins, this is for them. Significant negative.

What is strange is that the anonymous currency market collectively rose sharply in June, surpassing other currencies in the sector. Grin and Beam have risen several times, and the performance of the old anonymous coins XMR and DASH is not bad.

In my opinion, the more regulation there is, the more scarce it will be. Moreover, there are many real market demands for anonymous coins. These suppression policies may actually accelerate the application of anonymous coins.

2. It is difficult to fully implement the new regulations, and the impact on anonymous coins is limited

The delisting of anonymous coins directly blocks the source of transactions, which will undoubtedly hit the development of anonymous coins. The question is how wide the scope of the attack can be.

Different countries and regions have different policies on anti-money laundering, so it is not why FATF member countries implement the new FATF regulations. It is impossible for the world to reach a consensus and implement it. In history, countries have never worked together in an all-round way.

For exchanges in FATF member countries, it is completely possible to migrate to other countries. After all, no one wants to miss the anonymous currency market, which provides a large amount of transaction fees every day, and once the anonymous currency is removed from the shelves, a large number of users will be lost.

As long as it is profitable, the suppression effect on anonymous coins will always be limited.

3. There is the last safe harbor - decentralized exchange

Assuming that all countries work together to suppress anonymous coins and let all centralized exchanges remove anonymous coins, anonymous coins will still not die, and will be fully transferred to decentralized exchanges and over-the-counter transactions. On the contrary, this may boost the development of decentralized exchanges, making supervision even more difficult, and anonymous coins will be completely free and not subject to any institution.

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2. The black and white of anonymous coins

Many people think that Bitcoin is also anonymous, but it is not. When you trade Bitcoin, your transaction amount and time, fund flow information, sender, and receiver can all be viewed clearly on the blockchain browser. Once the address is linked to the real identity, it will be fully exposed.

Anonymous coins hide the transaction amount, sender and receiver information during the transaction process, similar to cash transactions, no one can know how you spend your cash.

It is precisely because of this feature that anonymous coins are extremely easy to be used for illegal activities.

1. The Ghost of the Gray Area

In August 2016, the darknet announced that it accepts Monero as a means of payment. The darknet is a type of encrypted website, which is the other side of the Internet. It is full of illegal activities, so the demand for confidentiality is very high. The anonymous currency Appears to meet this need for confidentiality.

For example, in 2018, 240 million hotel opening records of Huazhu Hotel Group were leaked, and its documents were sold on the dark web, and Bitcoin and Monero were used as payment methods.

In addition to the dark web, anonymous coins are also used for money laundering, drug trafficking, and terrorist activities.

2. Anonymous currency does not equal crime

In Venezuela, an extremely turbulent country, the definition of the black market has gone beyond the scope of normal cognition. The black market in Venezuela is a place where people obtain what they need to survive. The anonymity and convenience of anonymous coins are just what many people at the bottom need, and they are fighting against their own countries. Rubbish the hopes of a fiat currency system.

Of course, it is undeniable that a large part of the market for anonymous coins is in the dark web and other illegal fields, but the technology itself is innocent. Criminals can use it to cover up their crimes, and the public can use it to protect their rights. Governments and companies can also use it. Leverage privacy technology to keep data safe.

Finally, I quote a passage from Changpeng Zhao:

“I see a lot of rules being made. These rules seem to be against cryptocurrencies, and the makers don’t understand cryptocurrencies, so they don’t think about its side effects. All these really only accelerate the adoption of cryptocurrencies. Better The 'anti' approach to cryptocurrencies is to make fiat more useful, less restrictive, and more free. Sadly, it only seems to be going in the opposite direction."