Litecoin Delisted from South Korean Exchanges Over Privacy Concerns
The price of Litecoin (LTC) has dropped sharply after several major South Korean exchanges announced they were delisting the token. The delistings come as a result of privacy upgrades involving the MimbleWimble protocol, which are designed to make transactions confidential and virtually untraceable.
Bitcoin (BTC) has also fallen in value, though not as dramatically as LTC. This is likely due to the fact that BTC does not have built-in privacy features like MimbleWimble, making it less attractive to institutional investors who are increasingly focused on data privacy.
The long-term implications of these developments remain to be seen, but it appears that the institutional future of crypto may be incompatible with Litecoin’s Privacy Protecting Features.
This news comes as a bit of a surprise, as both Bithumb and Upbit are two of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea. Litecoin has been one of the more popular coins on these exchanges, so its delisting is noteworthy.
The reason for the delisting appears to be due to recent changes made to Litecoin that enable greater privacy when conducting transactions. These changes go against the grain of what many cryptocurrency exchanges are trying to do, which is to increase the transparency and traceability of transactions.
It remains to be seen if other exchanges will follow suit and delist Litecoin, or if this is simply a case of two exchanges taking a stand against coin modifications that they don’t agree with. Either way, it’s certainly an interesting development in the world of cryptocurrency.
The move comes as a result of new AML regulation in South Korea which conflicts with the MWEB protocol.
This is a major blow to the Litecoin community, which had high hopes for the MWEB upgrade. The protocol was designed to improve privacy and scalability on the Litecoin network, but it appears that these benefits will come at the expense of liquidity in South Korea.
For now, it seems that investors in South Korea will have to look elsewhere if they want to trade Litecoin.
While many investors are confident that Litecoin will continue to grow in popularity, some have raised concerns about the potential for it to be used for anonymous transactions. Upbit, a leading South Korean cryptocurrency exchange, pointed to an option in trading Litecoin that enables users to not expose transaction information.
This has led some to believe that anonymous transmission technology will likely be added to the coin’s functionality in the future. While this could make Litecoin even more attractive to criminals and those looking to avoid taxes, it could also increase its overall adoption rate by making it more private and fungible. Only time will tell how this plays out, but it is certainly something worth keeping an eye on.
This news follows a series of decisions by Upbit that have led to market speculation about the future of Litecoin on the exchange. First, Upbit delisted LTC from its trading pairs in early May. This move caused the price of Litecoin to drop significantly, as many investors feared that Upbit was no longer interested in supporting the coin. Next, Upbit announced that it would be halting all withdrawals and deposits for Litecoin on June 20. Finally, today’s announcement confirms that Market support for the cryptocurrency will be shutting down completely on July 20.
These events have caused many to question whether or not Upbit is still committed to supporting Litecoin. However, it’s important to remember that up until now, Upbit has been one of the most vocal supporters of Litecoin in the South Korean market. They were one of the first exchanges to list LTC and they have continued to support it despite recent changes in regulation concerning cryptocurrency trading in South Korea. It’s possible that Upbit is simply making these changes in order to comply with new regulations, and that they remain committed to supporting the coin in the long term.
Regardless of Upbit’s motives, this series of events has had a significant impact on the price of Litecoin. In the past week alone, the price of LTC has dropped by nearly 20%. It remains to be seen how much further the price will fall before stabilizing or beginning to recover.
Barry Pene is a stern blockchain research/copywriter. Barry has been trading cryptos since 2017 and has been invested in issues that would put the blockchain industry on the right pedestal. Barry's research expertise cuts across blockchain as a disruptive technology, DeFis, NFTs, Web3, and reduction of energy consumption levels of cryptocurrency mining.
