The increasing regulations towards crypto exchanges have seen a number of coins de-listed from top exchanges in the past six months.

Privacy coin Zcash is the latest casualty as Coinbase announced that the coin will no longer be accessible to its UK users.

The press release informed its users that they have until August 26 to exchange Zcash to other cryptocurrencies or transfer the token to other exchanges. Any user that defaults will have their Zcash converted to GBP by August 26.

Surprising Turn of Events

Coinbase surprised many with this announcement as there was no prior indication that Zcash would be de-listed for UK users. 

The platform tends to provide hints when embarking on such policy reviews for a major coin.

There have been speculations that the recent decision from the UK authorities mandating crypto exchanges to provide information about users and transaction histories could be the cause of the change in policy by Coinbase for users in the country.

Coinbase has not released an official statement detailing the reason for this decision. Users on the platform have a short time to swap their coins with the deadline less than a month away.

Privacy Coins Under Increasing Scrutiny

Governments across the world have begun to pass new regulations that aim to regulate cryptocurrencies. This has seen a number of changes by crypto exchanges as they look to adjust to the new regulations.

Although the new laws have not affected the major coins, privacy coins such as Zcash and Monero would likely feel the impact. This is due to demand for KYC compliance as mandatory for crypto exchanges.

Privacy coins provide anonymous transactions which are practically untraceable. This seemingly makes them targets for criminals and terrorists who may use them to perpetuate fraud and money laundering.

Crypto exchanges would have to drop these coins from certain regions to meet regulations.

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