Zcash Pulled From Coinbase’s UK Clients

Crypto exchanges are under a lot of pressure lately to make sure that their practices and offerings are in line with regulatory policies in the jurisdictions they operate in. The level of intensity has increased over the last few months as far as regulatory scrutiny goes and crypto related businesses have had to make some changes.

American crypto exchange company, Coinbase, has announced that their UK client base will no longer be able to trade Zcash. The exchange did not offer any explanation regarding why support for Zcash has been dropped in the UK market.

The announcement came through an email which is now in circulation on social media. Members of the crypto community on twitter were left questioning why the privacy-oriented digital asset was being dropped in the UK by Coinbase.

It is important to note that only traders in the UK no longer have access to the cryptocurrency. For investors in other regions, nothing has changed yet as far as Zcash goes.

@zcash @ElectricCoinCo @coinbase what's going on with Zcash in the UK? pic.twitter.com/6GWS9CuIoH

— Alex (@deskofwilkes) August 8, 2019

Option for UK investors

Coinbase has offered its UK clients some options to assist with the changes the exchange has implemented. The email states that UK investors are no longer allowed to have any Zcash in their wallets.

Those who are currently in possession of any of the coin will have to convert their holdings into fiat currency, convert Zcash to other cryptocurrency or withdraw their Zcash to their hardware wallets.

If a crypto holder does not make use of the availed options, Coinbase will liquidate the ZEC tokens in a holder’s wallet and deposit the equivalent fiat currency into their trading account. The changes will be effective Monday the 26th of August and holders should take action before then.

Alternatives for Zcash investors

To add to the confusion about why Coinbase has decided to drop Zcash, other exchanges in the UK still support the crypto asset. According to Electric Coin Company, residents of the UK are still able to sell and buy Zcash through CEX.IO.

They went on to explain that Zcash does not have any compliance issues with the country’s regulatory policies and which means that’s not the reason why it was dropped from Coinbase.

This is good news for Zcash investors because they can move their ZEC tokens to other exchanges or to their hardware wallets and remain on the right side of KYC/AML regulations. They can also continue to trade the cryptocurrency through other exchanges and maintain their investments.