Cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck is ditching four privacy altcoins over compliance issues with regulators in Japan.
The Japanese exchange will stop trading Monero, Zcash, Dash, and Augur from June 18.
Coincheck says the measure is to comply with transparency demands put in place by Japan’s financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA).
Privacy altcoins are Bitcoin alternatives that allow anonymous trading with high levels of security on the blockchain.
The FSA wants to block privacy cryptocurrencies on the grounds cloaking transactions in anonymity allows terrorists and money launderers to raise funds unhindered.
Coincheck says the four altcoins will be sold at market prices and converted into yen.
deVere Crypto adds new coins
But as one door closes, another opens.
One of the world’s largest independent financial organisations, deVere Group, is adding Monero and Stellar to the five digital currencies offered in the firm’s electronic wallet deVere Crypto.
The wallet already holds Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple and Dash.
Stellar is a platform that connects banks, payments systems, and people to move money quickly, reliably, and at almost no cost, according to the digital currency’s web site. Technology giant IBM has recently confirmed that Stellar will become the company’s first cryptocurrency used on a public blockchain.
deVere Group CEO Green said: “We’ve further expanded our offering on deVere Crypto to include Stellar and Monero due to clients demanding an even more extensive crypto portfolio.
“People are piling into cryptocurrencies. The surge in demand is being fuelled by digital currencies becoming ever more mainstream. Both retail and institutional investors are finding it increasingly hard to ignore the potential opportunities of cryptocurrencies.”
Why cryptocurrencies are thriving
Green argues that four main drivers are pushing the expansion of cryptocurrencies.
“First, the growing appreciation and understanding of the need for digital, global and decentralised currency in an increasingly digitalised and globalised world.,” he said.
“Second, some of the world’s major tech companies, banking groups, financial institutions and household-name investors are investing in, using and/or beginning to adopt cryptocurrencies.
“Third, regulation of the sector is now becoming inevitable. This has been noted by the International Monetary Fund and can also be evidenced by the July deadline for suggested cryptocurrency regulation set at the G20 summit this year.
“And fourth, the technology behind cryptocurrencies is improving all the time. For instance, scalability issues are being improved to bolster transaction processing capacities.”