Major South Korean crypto exchanges have decided to delist Litecoin(LTC). This development comes weeks after the country flagged the token for its WMEB (MimbleWimble) upgrade focused on privacy.
A Setback For Litecoin
On Wednesday, Upbit made a public announcement on the issue where they cited a special law. The law forbids anonymous transactions and is believed to be the reason why Litecoin has suffered an end to its official support in South Korea.
The delisting arrives with a highly-anticipated MWEB upgrade in the backdrop. The upgrade turned Litecoin transactions private and hid a few of the most important identifiers. The upgrade got released earlier in the year, almost 2 years from the time it was first proposed.
The crypto exchange contacted the Litecoin Foundation in the hopes of understanding this new upgrade focused on privacy. As such, they thoroughly reviewed the upgrade and decided that they would no longer support LTC transactions. As such, users on the exchange have been given 30 days within which they have to withdraw any funds they have in LTC.
In its official report, Upbit stated that the decision to terminate Litecoin’s support was because the optional function to hide transaction information is akin to technology for conducting anonymous transactions. Such transactions are forbidden as per the Specific Financial Information Act.
8BTC reports that as many as 5 big crypto exchanges – Upbit, Gopax, Korbit, Coinone, and Bithumb – have all removed LTC from the list of coins supported on their platforms. At the same time, Upbit along with other big crypto exchanges warned investors regarding the issue during May’s last week. The warning-cum-advise was to be regarding the risks from regulations that confidential transactions may invite. This is no surprise as South Korea’s crypto regulations are among the strictest as per the global standard.
