According to Upbit, they were guided by the Special Financial Information Act, which requires full transparency of cryptocurrency transactions in order to prevent money laundering. According to the announcement, Upbit reached out to the Litecoin Foundation to determine its options and ultimately decided to delist the cryptocurrency. Users need to withdraw assets in LTC within 30 days.

"We decided to stop supporting Litecoin (LTC) transactions because we determined that the feature that allows transaction information to be hidden is consistent with transaction anonymization technology under the Special Financial Information Act," Upbit wrote.

In addition to Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax announced the delisting of Litecoin, according to news portal 8BTC.

In late May, Korean exchanges warned users that they may soon be forced to stop working with Litecoin due to regulatory risks. To date, the country's cryptocurrency exchanges also do not support other cryptocurrencies with increased anonymity, which have been delisted in recent years amid stricter legislation.

A rapid deterioration in weather conditions occurred in the United States this week ahead of the Christmas weekend, affecting more than 70% of the population. More than 200,000 people in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine were without power. Severe weather conditions are expected to continue through December 26.

Among other things, these events have had a serious impact on the bitcoin network. The network's hash rate, which shows the amount of computing power to process transactions, dropped by more than 30% over the weekend, from 230 EH/s to 155 EH/s. This was due to the suspension of activity by major U.S. miners following the National Weather Service's announcement of an impending storm.

Mining company Riot Blockchain announced a halt in bitcoin mining at its Texas site, citing extreme weather conditions as the reason. Other firms have followed suit. Core Scientific, which recently sought protection from creditors under bankruptcy law, said it would "participate in energy reduction to help normalize the power supply." Bitcoin mining is expected to be reduced at that time, the company clarified on Twitter.

"Be prepared for the surges this weekend as we confront the storm," said Compass Mining Director Neil Galloway, adding that the firm's cryptocurrency mining in Texas has been suspended. - Thanks to the shutdown of your miner, people can heat their homes and cook food."

Weather conditions have created a number of problems for miners in the United States. They need reliable access to power, and any prolonged outages have serious consequences for their ability to mine. According to the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance, the U.S. accounts for the largest share of bitcoin hashtray in the world, accounting for at least 37%.