@aquietinvestor, thank you for raising this here and to you and @Beth for all your work on this behind the scenes.
I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit and have read most of the comments in this thread. I was on the call with Binance and have spent a number of years working with both regulators and compliance teams.
Binance represents the access point to obtain ZEC for many people around the world. It likely represents much more than the trading volume of 15% reported on Coingecko as many others inflate volume through wash trading and/or misreporting. Liquidity and access matter. A delisting from Binance would hurt Zcash users, and hurt our efforts to gain reach.
Unfortunately, MiCA and other regulatory pressures will likely continue to result in actions by regulated exchanges. We’ve seen similar actions in Japan, S. Korea, and the UAE. We’ve likely seen overreach in the US, and banking pressures in Australia, Singapore and the UK. It will continue. It won’t be limited to privacy. Defi and self-custody are also in the crosshairs.
That said, I am opposed to making a protocol change for both philosophical and practical reasons.
Instead, I recommend we document and communicate a solution such as the following:
- automated user notification of required viewing key(s) or return address for any funds originating from a z-address
- funds are not available for trading until that information is received
- multiple e-mail and or UI warnings that non compliance will result in the burning of deposited funds after X days
- notification on their deposit address dialogs that this will occur along with an option to include a return address or viewing key in the dialog
- EDD should also be a listed option along with regulatory justification - this is normal for regulated exchanges
Ideally, someone in the community would work to engage with their compliance team directly to review and address any regulatory misunderstanding. If they announce a global delisting, the community might consider a campaign that includes public statements from and promotions with other exchanges in the same jurisdictions.
In the medium term, we need to double down on DEX options and swaps to ensure the world has access to obtain, transfer and use shielded ZEC.
edit: also, credit to @squirrel for the idea of requesting a return address