Korean crypto exchanges issue warnings on litecoin over confidential transactions

Bithumb and Upbit, two of Korea's Big Four crypto exchanges that account for the majority of trading volume, have issued investment warnings about litecoin following an update that allows transactions to be sent confidentially. 

Litecoin's activation of privacy-focused technology Mimblewimble brings a "confidential transaction" ability to the Litecoin blockchain, enabling users to send tokens while hiding transaction information, Bithumb said in a post on Monday. Upbit also issued a similar warning today. The other two large Korean exchanges, Korbit and Coinone, haven't made any announcements as yet.

The two exchanges pointed to Korea's Act on the Reporting and Use of Specific Financial Transaction Information, a policy that requires crypto exchanges to implement know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) procedures. Korean exchanges tend to delist tokens after making such warnings.

Litecoin was launched in 2011 as one of the earliest rivals to bitcoin. It's the 18th largest crypto token by value, with a market cap of more than $5 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. The network introduced Mimblewimble, an idea first proposed more than two and a half years ago, on May 20.