BitBay exchange latest to drop Monero over money laundering risks

One of Eastern Europe’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges has announced it is ending trading support for Monero, becoming the latest exchange to ditch the privacy coin over fears about money laundering.

Estonia-based BitBay announced it was dropping Monero earlier this week, with the cut-off for clients holding the cryptocurrency set for February 19, 2020. Support for deposits in Monero is set to end on Friday of this week, with support for withdrawals to be frozen on December 5.

https://twitter.com/BitBay/status/1199046618168922113

Any remaining XML on the exchange must be withdrawn by May 20 2020, at which point the exchange will cease to support the privacy coin in any capacity.

The move sees BitBay become the latest exchange to drop the privacy coin over money laundering risks, in a bid to comply with international guidelines on preventing money laundering.

Explaining its motives, BitBay said it was following other exchanges in scrapping support for the coin to comply with global money laundering standards.

“Monero (XMR) can selectively utilize anonymity features among projects. This feature of XMR is a subject to end of transaction support. The decision was made to block the possibility of money laundering and inflow from external networks. As a licensed exchange, BitBay has to follow the market standards.

“Compliance with market standards and regulations allows us to provide our clients with legal security and convenience of using the exchange, with the participation of a friendly banking system and the availability of payment operators.”

Monero’s focus on privacy has prompted several exchanges to withdraw their support for the coin, at a time of an industry-wide drive towards compliance with best financial practice, including guidelines set out by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

OkEx South Korea is among the high profile names to drop Monero in recent weeks, while Coinbase made the decision to drop privacy coin Zcash from its U.K. exchange earlier this year. It follows from the publication of new guidelines by the FATF in July, designed to specifically address the risks of money laundering through cryptocurrencies like Monero.