After being purchased by Monex, Coincheck is taking a hard-line approach against anything that could upset regulatory agencies in the future. This time, Coincheck is announcing that the exchange is preparing to halt the trading of Monero, Augur, Dash, and ZCash. It argues that such trading presents complications to any future compliance requirements.
“As part of this review, based on the fact that it is necessary to further develop and strengthen the management system of AML/CFT in the future, we deem that it is not appropriate for us to deal with currencies that may provide concern. We re-assessed various risks based on their characteristics. As a result, the handling of [these] cryptocurrencies will be abolished,” Coincheck said in its statement.
All holdings currently in the exchange will be converted to yen and refunded to individuals at current market values.
Coincheck experienced some trauma with these privacy coins in the past, when it suffered the largest cryptocurrency-related heist in history by fiat volume in an attack that siphoned nearly $530 million in NEM in January. After the exchange lost these coins, hackers acted quickly to have them exchanged and laundered through wallets in privacy coins like Monero and ZCash. All of the proceeds from the attack were laundered into oblivion before the authorities could even finish their investigations.
Two months ago, rumors started to appear that the company would eventually halt the trading of Monero, Dash, and ZCash due to these events. Monex, being as cautious as always, may have been behind the decision that confirmed these rumors, as it could help prevent any regulatory issues. There’s no clear rationale, however, behind the decision to remove Augur from its listings.
The exchange said about as much in its announcement, and we can expect other compliance-related changes as Coincheck continues to recover from the incident it suffered at the beginning of this year.
This article appeared first on Cryptovest
