After Upbit marked down 30 coins for its delisting, multiple South Korean crypto exchanges have engaged in what can only be considered as “token purging,” culling a wide range of altcoins from their respective platforms.
It can be recalled that in an unexpected move, Upbit removed five coins from its platform and gave 25 others to prove their worth or otherwise face the consequence of being removed or delisted.
The move led to the country’s top financial regulator to order all major exchanges to inform it of their delisting policies.
But as it would appear, the effort has already gained some ground, as 11 out of 20 exchanges, which have secured the information security management system (ISMS) certification required to register with the regulator, have started the process of “trimming” their token offerings.
Following what Upbit started
This week, Coinbit has abruptly moved to remove eight tokens from its platform. Announcement about its delisting also said there are 28 more that have been added to the shortlist of assets for removal.
Meanwhile, its rival APRObit, is also set to take away 11 tokens while Flybit has moved to remove trading pairs and Houbi Korea and GDAC have delisted exchange-issued tokens from their platforms.
These actions proved disastrous for investors and many of them are using web forums in complaining that there is no legal basis for delisting and these moves appear to be “arbitrary.”
Exchanges respond
In explaining their side, the crypto platforms claimed that the tokens they have delisted or removed from their systems failed to meet internally assessed criteria. Some said the culling of these assets is necessary to boost customer protection.
Meanwhile, another point of complaint against exchanges is that they appear to be purposely making their delisting announcements late at night, leading to the delisted tokens losing up to 80% of their value.
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