Litecoin anonymity update gets it booted from South Korean exchanges
Litecoin (LTC), the 20th-largest cryptocurrency in the world, is being ousted from South Korean crypto exchanges after its Mimblewimble Extension Blocks (MWEB) upgrade allowed the token to be sent anonymously — which is against local anti-money laundering regulations.
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Fast facts
Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax, five of South Korea’s digital asset exchanges that let users trade in crypto using cash, have announced that they will delist LTC from their platforms.
South Korean investors will no longer be able to trade Litecoin with the Korean won.
Some local exchanges such as Foblgate and Coredax that only service token-to-token trades have also designated Litecoin as a “hazardous investment” — which could later lead to delisting.
Litecoin’s latest blockchain upgrade MWEB provides more privacy by giving users the option to trading LTC on “Extension Blocks,” which will obscure the addresses and amounts involved in the transactions.
The MWEB update runs afoul of South Korea’s strict anti-money laundering regulations applied to its crypto sector last year, which sought to remove anonymity from crypto transactions.
The regulation requires exchanges that wish to service cash-to-crypto transactions to partner with local banks so that users trade using real-name accounts.
Litecoin has fallen about 5% since South Korean exchanges announced the delisting, trading at US$61.17 at the time of publication.
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