Following delisting, Dash pushes back against 'privacy coin' label

A recent tweet from Dash’s official Twitter account has invited criticism that the cryptocurrency, which once advertised its privacy features, is wilting in the face of possible regulatory scrutiny. 

On Jan. 1, the US-based Bittrex exchange announced in a tweet that it would be delisting Monero, Zcash, and Dash:

#Bittrex Customers: The $XMR, $ZEC, and $DASH markets will be removed on Friday, January 15th at 23:00 UTC. Details: https://t.co/8qAdjuwryJ

— Bittrex (@BittrexExchange) January 1, 2021

The delistings follow a similar Dec. 29 announcement last week that Bittrex would be delisting XRP following a SEC lawsuit against Ripple, prompting speculation that the exchange preemptively delisted the privacy coins in anticipation of a wider regulatory crackdown. 

In response, Dash announced in a tweet that they had “reached out to @BittrexExchange to request a meeting,” and that referring to DASH as a “privacy coin” is a misnomer:

From a technical standpoint, Dash’s privacy functionality is no greater than Bitcoin’s, making the label of “privacy coin” a misnomer for Dash. We have reached out to @BittrexExchange to request a meeting with their compliance team. Hopefully this will be rectified soon. https://t.co/QA66OoshPn

— Dash (@Dashpay) January 1, 2021

As recently as 2017, however, archived screenshots from the Dash Foundation website advertise DASH as “the worlds first privacy centric crypto-currency.” The current Dash Foundation website instead now says DASH is “the leading payments cryptocurrency.”

In a recent tweet about the delisting DashPay CEO Ryan Taylor also minimized the currency’s privacy features:

10/ Dash’s PrivateSend feature is simply a branded implementation of non-custodial CoinJoin. Don’t take my word for it… industry leading experts like Chainalysis and Perkins Coie agree.

— Ryan Taylor (@RTaylor05) January 2, 2021

While the seeming about-face has prompted jeers and criticism on Twitter, proponents have noted that Dash released guidance on the cryptocurrency’s privacy features in August. In a blog on the official Dash website, Taylor wrote that “regulators are concerned that exchanges may be unable to comply with KYC / AML regulations when transacting coins with privacy features,” because DASH is “often found on lists of coins with privacy enhancements.” 

However, Taylor wrote that Dash has largely been successful in convincing exchanges and regulators that Dash is not a privacy coin.

“Through a process of education, we have been effective in explaining the technology and convincing regulators that accepting Dash poses no incremental risk compared to Bitcoin.”

The clarifications about Dash’s core focus follow an announced upgrade to Dash moving to the testnet phase, an upgrade which will include DashPay, a “social crypto payments wallet.” DASH is down 3% on the day to $87.71.