South Korea to ban anonymous cryptocurrency trading

From March 2021, trading in anonymous cryptocurrencies in South Korea will be banned. Exchanges will no longer be allowed to support Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC) and Dash, among others.

South Korea says no to anonymous cryptocurrencies

All cryptocurrencies that add an extra layer of anonymity to transactions on their network will no longer be able to be offered for trading by exchanges in South Korea.

The ban will come into effect on March 21, 2021 and affects cryptocurrencies such as Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC) and Bitcoin Revolution. The regulator also gives the name of “ Dark Coins “ to these cryptocurrencies.

For the Financial Services Commission (FSC), the South Korean regulator, cryptocurrencies with anonymity capabilities greatly facilitate money laundering activities :

“Private cryptocurrencies add a third-party process that conceals these transaction records, thus making the parties involved completely anonymous and also making it extremely difficult for law enforcement to find them,” the regulator points out.

Through a regulatory update , the FSC also requires South Korea-based exchanges to have strict KYC procedures for their clients. At the same time, the platforms must do their utmost to fight money laundering.

Private cryptocurrencies don’t have it easy

South Korea thus joins Japan as an important financial market to impose a specific ban on anonymous cryptocurrencies. The situation for private cryptocurrencies has deteriorated more and more in recent months. In September 2019, the South Korean branch of the exchange OKEx itself delisted Monero from its platform , following continued pressure from regulators.

But things have accelerated greatly in response to the Nth Room scandal that hit South Korea last summer. This illegal sexual content sharing network accepted payments in Monero to gain access through Telegram. The XMR has since this event been in turmoil in the country , this sad affair having shaken the entire population.

However, all this does not make these cryptocurrencies unusable . With the power of regulators stopping at the level of trading platforms, anonymous cryptocurrencies can still circulate between their holders without problem .

However, obtaining them is becoming more difficult in many jurisdictions, as gateways to purchases become more rare or fully controlled.