The Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) announced a ban on anonymity-enhanced cryptocurrencies such as Zcash and Monero. From now on, crypto projects are obliged to follow the new regulation guidelines or halt their operations in the country. The VARA describes privacy coins as a “type of virtual asset that hinders the tracing of transactions or ownership through its use of distributed public ledgers, and for which there are currently no available technologies or mechanisms for service providers to trace or identify ownership.”
Besides, Dubai is not the only campaigner against the anonymous nature of cryptocurrencies. Thus, similar measures are now being developed in Japan and the European Union.
According to Angela Ang, a Senior Policy Advisor at blockchain intelligence company TRM Labs, “any obfuscation of cash flows poses challenges in detecting unauthorized activity, so it's no surprise that regulators react strongly to such asset classes and mechanisms.”
