The future of privacy coins on exchanges

[gentlemand]

Coinbase may only support 'transparent' zcash addresses if they list it.

https://twitter.com/provoost/status/1017902818441744384

https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-is-exploring-cardano-basic-attention-token-stellar-zcash-and-0x-9e44f0eb823f

Japan has been pressing exchanges to drop privacy coins - https://www.forbes.com/sites/adelsteinjake/2018/04/30/japans-financial-regulator-is-pushing-crypto-exchanges-to-drop-altcoins-favored-by-criminals/#6ce5f3561b8a

Hopefully atomic swaps will be a thing by then and other jurisdictions won't care, but it may well become a widespread thing.

Will there come a day where no privacy coins are listed as a condition of regulation?

[1Referee]

If Coinbase ends up discarding zCash's privacy features, then it's a coin worth less than a penny since there is no utility.

Aside from it's privacy features, I find it very questionable that Coinbase even considers this coin to be listed on their platform, especially because of the 'founders reward' consisting of 20% of each block to flow in the pockets of the people behind it. There is no such a thing when it comes to Monero, so they are far better off adding that coin, which in my opinion has far better technical engineering as well.

zCash is nothing more than a cash grab.

[gentlemand]

zCash is nothing more than a cash grab.

It's one of Barry Silbert's pet coins so that's all you need to know really.

Coinbase has some strange ideas and some of their moves have been distinctly suspect such as the Bcash launch and their general contempt for Bitcoin itself. Quite naturally they're out for themselves. I'd like to know their endgame though.

[1Referee]

I'd like to know their endgame though.

I think the main reason to list these silly coins is to attract more noobs, mainly because of the fact that Coinbase is bleeding. Their business model of only listing a few main coins is working against them, and it shows. People want more options and for that reason dive into Asian exchanges listing anything that's crypto and has a name to it.

https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/coinbase.com

They are at a point where they generate less traffic than before the massive bull ride happened last year. Less traffic = less income.

Look at Binance's growth;

https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/binance.com

[gentlemand]

Interesting. They have a tricky balancing act. They know the money is in the absolute shit but they want to appear prestigious too and quite rightly they don't want to be drawing people in to absolute junk whereas I doubt Binance cares at all. I wonder if they'll ever manage to reconcile the two.

They'd be better off forming Shitbase and leaving Coinbase for dumb retail and institutional stuff.

[LeGaulois]

Using only the transparent address won't attract the right users. It will attract only people using the coin to speculate. But people using Zcoin for the privacy feature will never use Coinbase because 1: only transparent address, 2: it's a web wallet.

I don't think it will become a trend to remove the privacy-centric cryptocurrencies for the sake of the regulations. It's just that Coinbase is playing the hypocrisy card. They first claimed to be focusing only with Bitcoin but with the years they had more coins for the money

[richardsNY]

If Coinbase ends up discarding zCash's privacy features, then it's a coin worth less than a penny since there is no utility.

Spot on. It's actually amusingly stupid because Coinbase contradicts itself by doing that. They add that coin because of its utility but completely shit on that utility by not allowing it to be utilized in any way. I get it that it is moderately difficult legally, but then skip that coin and focus on a coin that people can actually enjoy for its utility. If a coin can't be used what it is meant for, and that utility is the only aspect separating it from over 2000 coins that this space counts, then I wouldn't even waste time thinking about it. Coinbase needs to accept the reality and that reality is that they are expensive to use, and only the key player based on their banking entry and exit points....

[mobnepal]

Look at Binance's growth;

https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/binance.com

Binance is also slowing moving towards more crypto friendly country malta with their announcement of decentralized bank concept and positive response from Malta's prime minister. But as Malta also lies under Euro zone shouldn't we be worried about possible regulation on binance too in future if it will keep on getting attention from traders. Also I think they gonna add fiat with the help of malta regulation but this might also force them to make KYC mandatory for their users.

Few months ago there was buzz around altcoin.io automatic token swap feature but it is not still live and only available for testnet coins. Will this allow privacy focused coin to get swapped for bitcoin or other coins that is accepted by exchanges like coinbase which is just another bank than a crypto-wallet.  

[BitHodler]

It's only a matter of time before cryptocurrencies focusing on anonymity will be dealt with equally on a global scale within a few years. There is no way to avoid this from happening and it's a good thing.

Even if governments try to act like they don't mind them right now, there only needs to happen one terrorist attack that they can somehow link to these currencies to get rid of them entirely.

The good thing of a global ban will be that these coins will only be accessible through decentralized exchanges, and that will grant anyone the best level of privacy. BTC> ZEC> DASH> final destination. Perfect in my opinion.

[1Referee]

But as Malta also lies under Euro zone shouldn't we be worried about possible regulation on binance too in future if it will keep on getting attention from traders.

Binance can be seen as a squatter; they jump in without thinking and deal with the consequences later. Eventually they will be kicked out.

I do believe that there is a limit to Binance's aggressive growth, but that highly depends on how active regulators are in the forthcoming years. If we look at the exchange market in general, and its history, then the only guarantee is that all exchanges will fall. There hasn't been one single exchange that managed to remain dominant for a long period of time.

Will this allow privacy focused coin to get swapped for bitcoin or other coins that is accepted by exchanges like coinbase which is just another bank than a crypto-wallet. 

Yes, altcoin.io should be able to list any coin to its swap wallet and make people exchange it for whatever they want. It's basically a swap of private keys that's happening on their platform.

[figmentofmyass]

If Coinbase ends up discarding zCash's privacy features, then it's a coin worth less than a penny since there is no utility.

Zcash's privacy features aren't very useful anyway since they aren't mandatory---hardly anyone uses shielded transactions. some wallets don't even offer them. so its privacy is dodgy at best, since all shielded transactions represent a very small (and highly parse-able) data set.

Coinbase may only support 'transparent' zcash addresses if they list it.

no surprise there.

i'm honestly surprised they would even entertain the notion of a privacy coin.

Will there come a day where no privacy coins are listed as a condition of regulation?

probably. there will always be exchanges in dodgy jurisdictions who will list them. more importantly, atomic swaps + decentralized exchanges might take all the liquidity over time.

[ovbokhan]

the future of privacy coin is not too certain unlike we have a well developed decentralized exchanges.Gaovernments want a clamp down on privacy coins

[gentlemand]

i'm honestly surprised they would even entertain the notion of a privacy coin.

I'm surprised privacy is still such a general non subject. It goes to show that speculation and nothing but is in the driving seat.

If fiat threw in the towel tomorrow and we had to use BTC for our day to day life we'd suddenly start to care a whole lot more about it.

Privacy is a must with something that aspires to be a currency.

I can easily believe all proper privacy coins being given the boot from 'approved' exchanges which leaves stuff which will never be usable for real life transactions as most people can't be arsed or don't know how to make the best of what privacy is available to glue on.

[magneto]

It's not really up to the exchanges.

Regulators in countries are pushing these changes, and if centralised exchanges want to exist within a jurisdiction, then they're pretty much forced to comply with all of these rules. And with the tightening of regulations on many anonymous trading platforms such as Localbitcoins, restrictions on privacy coins on exchanges in the future is very plausible, and even probable.

I dont' think that a lot of people care for or even know much of privacy coins, at the moment. But if there was to be a speculative trend in the future with that, we may see regulators move to try restrict access to it faster. That's why I think that decentralised exchanges that potentially operate without fiat altogether are going to be inevitable.

[figmentofmyass]

I dont' think that a lot of people care for or even know much of privacy coins, at the moment. But if there was to be a speculative trend in the future with that, we may see regulators move to try restrict access to it faster. That's why I think that decentralised exchanges that potentially operate without fiat altogether are going to be inevitable.

yup, i think it'll develop into a multi-layered market. i don't think privacy coins worth their salt will be listed on tightly regulated exchanges at all. i seriously doubt coinbase would ever list ZEC, just on the possibility they follow through and phase out transparent addresses entirely.

instead, we'll see a secondary market develop on decentralized exchanges. i think in some years, the vast majority of privacy coin volume will be on DEXs. as long as BTC can continue functioning as our reserve currency, that should work just fine.