Electroneum (ETN) Unrolls KYC from November 12

Electroneum (ETN) will follow the trend for greater regulatory compliance, and introduce a KYC procedure for all app users. User monitoring will become compulsory from November 12. The move by ETN is puzzling, given that the coin is forked from the Monero protocol and is anonymous by nature. However, the coin is mined and transferred through a mobile app, which will require disclosure.

“Today marks the third time Electronuem has broken new ground in the cryptocurrency world. We were the world’s first mobile cryptocurrency, we developed the world’s first cryptocurrency instant payment API and today we are the world’s first KYC-compliant cryptocurrency,” said Richard Ellis, the founder and CEO of Electroneum.

The regulatory technology for Electroneum comes from a partnership with Yoti, a dedicated KYC service provider. Ellis believes the move is crucial to turn the Electroneum ecosystem into recognized fintech in order to rival other payment systems:

“This will help us evolve from a cryptocurrency into a recognised means of digital payment like PayPal or Apple Pay, which will enable us to help our core market: smartphone users in developing and emerging countries.”

The Yoti service for verification allows for the creation of a single identity, which could be used across the crypto ecosystem. Other projects are also aiming to help by unrolling verification tools.

The crypto community sees the move as paradoxical. But in 2018, mainstream adoption has gone hand-in-hand with regulatory compliance, and more organizations are monitoring their users through information disclosure. Services like Shapeshift are also rolling out accounts and KYC, while Changelly closely monitors transactions in anonymous coins, especially Monero.

However, Electroneum has scaled back on most of its privacy features, and only kept the mining algorithm of Monero, to aid in simulated mobile phone mining. At the same time, the Electroneum network decided not to disable ASIC and has allowed the technology.

The ETN market price has been on the move lately, rising as high as $0.02 from recent prices under $0.01. ETN traded at $0.019 as of 13:00 UTC, up around 4% in the past 24 hours.

The Electroneum community is one of the most active, though the project has caused multiple disappointments by changing direction from its initial aims. Problems ranged from wallets locked for months, lost coins on exchanges because of the privacy feature, as well as a mining freeze. However, the Electroneum project keeps marketing itself as a unique coin with the potential for mass adoption and slowly expands in the crypto ecosystem.

Neither the author nor the publication assumes any responsibility or liability for any investments, profits, or losses made as a result of this information. Cryptocurrency trading and investing are risky propositions, and market participants are advised to always conduct thorough research.