Estonia-based cryptocurrency exchange BitBay has announced it will discontinue support for privacy-focused cryptocurrency Monero (XMR) over concerns related to regulatory compliance.
According to an announcement published on its website on November 25, BitBay is ending support for Monero due to the coin’s ability to “selectively utilize anonymity features.” BitBay says the decision to discontinue support was made to block the possibility of “money laundering and inflow from external networks.”
It goes on to say:
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.
The exchange published a timeline for its handling of Monero, including a halt to all XMR deposits that goes into effect on November 29.
Trading support for the coin will cease on 19 February 2020, with any outstanding orders on the books being canceled at the same time.
BitBay has asked all users to completely withdraw their XMR from the exchange by 20 May 2020.
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