Wow, OKX Removes 11 Crypto Trading Pairs Including Monero And Zcash Privacy Tokens

JAKARTA - The OKX crypto exchange announced that it will remove 11 trading pairs from their platform starting in early January 2024. This decision has an impact on several privacy tokens, such as Monero and Zcash, known as cryptocurrencies offering high anonymity for its users. OKX says that this removal is based on internal guidelines and feedback from users.

Privacy tokens are cryptocurrencies that use encryption technology to hide the identity and transactions of their users. Some people view privacy tokens as useful and necessary tools to maintain user privacy and security, while others consider them dangerous and potentially misused by criminals.

OKX, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, announced on December 27, 2023 that it will remove 11 trading pairs from their platforms, including the privacy tokens of Monero and Zcash. This deletion will be effective on January 4 and 5, 2024.

According to an official announcement from OKX, the 11 trading pairs to be removed are:

- FSN/USDT

- ZKS/USDT

- CAPO/USDT

- CVP/USDT

- XMR/USDT

- DASH/USDT

- ZEC/USDT

- ZEN/USDT

- XMR/BTC

- DASH/BTC

- ZEC/BTC

OKX advises customers to cancel orders related to the trading pair before the deletion time arrives, or the order will be automatically canceled by the exchange.

In addition, OKX has also stopped deposits for FSN, ZKS, CAPO, CVP, XMR, DASH, ZEC, and ZEN since December 27, 2023, although users can still access the tokens they deposited before that date. OKX will also suspend withdrawals for FSN, ZKS, CAPO, CVP, XMR, DASH, ZEC, and ZEN starting March 5, 2024, and advise users to withdraw their tokens before that date.

OKX said that this deletion was carried out based on internal guidelines and feedback from users, without further explaining the specific reasons. However, it can be speculated that privacy tokens such as Monero and Zcash may be considered a high risk by the exchange, both in terms of regulation and reputation.

Monero and Zcash are two fairly popular privacy tokens in the crypto market. According to CoinMarketCap, Monero has a market cap of around $2.6 billion and is ranked 29th on the list of the largest cryptocurrencies, while Zcash has a market cap of about $1.1 billion and is in the 54th rank. Both of these tokens have a fairly high trading volume, over 100 million US dollars each in the last 24 hours.

However, these two tokens also have an accompanying controversy. Monero, for example, was involved in the kidnapping case of a Binance client in November 2023, where the kidnappers demanded a ransom of 1,000 Monero (around Rp. 4.8 billion) to release the victim.

Zcash, on the other hand, was once criticized by former CIA director Michael Morell, who said that this token could facilitate illegal activities such as money laundering and terrorism.

OKX is not the first exchange to remove privacy tokens from their platform. Previously, other crypto exchanges such as Bittrex, Upbit, Huobi, and OKEx Korea had also removed privacy tokens such as Monero, Zcash, Dash, and others, citing regulatory compliance.