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It shouldn’t come as a surprise that regulators are starting to pay close attention to cryptocurrencies this year. For instance, as the price of Bitcoin (BTC) continues to soar, it’s predicted that regulators will start taking direct action – possibly even banning Bitcoin completely.
While the ban may sound extreme, regulators have recently honed in on the use of privacy coins like Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC) and Dash. For example, in September this year, the United States Internal Revenue Service offered a bounty of up to $625,000 for intelligence firms that could break the untraceable privacy coin Monero.
Moreover, on Oct. 8, William Barr, the attorney general for the U.S., announced the release of a document entitled, “Cryptocurrency: An Enforcement Framework.” Produced by the attorney general’s Cyber-Digital Task Force, the publication discusses a framework to combat the “emerging threats and enforcement challenges associated with the increasing prevalence and use of cryptocurrency.”
Although the document discusses cryptocurrencies in general, the report specifically addresses issues involving “anonymity enhanced cryptocurrencies,” also known as AECs or privacy coins. The document notes examples of these privacy coins to include Monero, Zcash and Dash, stating that they undermine the Anti-Money Laundering measures:
“The acceptance of anonymity enhanced cryptocurrencies or ‘AECs’ — such as Monero, Dash, and Zcash — by MSBs and darknet marketplaces has increased the use of this type of virtual currency. As discussed above, because AECs use non-public or private blockchains, use of these cryptocurrencies may undermine the AML/CFT controls used to detect suspicious activity by MSBs and other
Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/dash-claims-inaccurate-categorization-as-shapeshift-delists-privacy-coins