The crypto industry's cypherpunkian mettle will be tested as governments and regulators finger privacy tools for possibly enabling criminals doing bad things — in addition to normal people doing mundane things.

Driving the news: Seven tokens are set to be delisted on Sept. 19 from Top 10 exchange Huobi Global, which on Monday sent a shudder through the industry as it cited compliance with the "latest financial regulations" as just cause.

Why it matters: The "do it yourself" and "don't ask permission" philosophy is a feature of the crypto industry, not a bug.

Between the lines: The Huobi issue centers around Monero, Zcash, Dash, Firo, Decred, Verge and Horizen, which collectively have a market capitalization of $5.5 billion.

What's happening: "I spoke with Huobi before they delisted Monero and other assets, and they indicated that South Korea pressured them to delist these assets worldwide," Justin Ehrenhofer, of Monero-focused crypto wallet software company Cake Wallet, tells Axios.

Flashback: Recall Kraken delisted Monero's privacy coin in the United Kingdom late last year.

What they're saying: "Privacy is a basic requirement for any currency to be useful, so it's unfortunate that some exchanges see this as problematic," Jonathan Zeppettini, International Operations Lead at Decred, said in an email responding to Axios. "Especially when all these exchanges by their nature require users to submit personal information in order to trade."

Dash is "identical to bitcoin," given transactions and addresses are publicly viewable on the blockchain," Ernesto Contreras, global head of Dash Core Group's marketing and business development, tells Axios.

What others are saying: "It’s very possible exchanges could feel pressured to delist privacy technologies. And we're definitely watching to see what they do," Galaxy Digital's Alex Thorn tells Axios.

State of play: The U.S. Treasury just this week published guidance around Ethereum's largest privacy tool, Tornado Cash, providing clarity around how users can withdraw funds, lawfully.

What's next: Issuers of the Lucky Seven appear poised to deny that the main feature of their tokens are privacy-enabling in hopes of diverting attention and staying in the good graces of coin gatekeepers.

Crystal's thought bubble: Cypherpunkian principles are what separate the crypto crew from Wall Street, without it, they are just a Rube-Goldbergian version of the same financial machine. And those moneyed interests are coming for the industry anyway.