Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance recently announced that it will delist its privacy-focused coin Monero (XMR) on February 20th. Binance has become the latest platform to dispose of anonymous assets amid a growing global compliance crackdown.
Key details regarding Binance’s end of XMR support:
- As of February 20th, Binance will delist all XMR trading pairs with BTC, ETH, and USDT.
- This follows rival exchange OKX's removal of privacy coins like Monero in January.
- Following the delisting news, XMR price plummeted by more than 32%.
In a blog explaining the periodic coin review process, Binance said: “Contributing to a healthy and sustainable cryptocurrency ecosystem” This is one of the factors that determines the possibility of delisting. The exchange has set a deadline of February 20th to suspend Monero trading.
The move follows months of concerns across privacy coins such as Monero, Zcash and Dash as platforms scramble availability to meet regulators' demands. Rival exchange OKX delisted Monero and some of its peers in January ahead of Binance amid growing global skepticism.
Binance delisting news causes Monero to crash 32%
As the most prominent privacy coin that allows users to hide the details of their transactions, Monero provides exactly the kind of anonymity that authorities are concerned about. The news also caused prices to plummet by more than 32%.
XMR hit a high of $517.62 in May 2021. However, since then, this coin has lost almost 77% of its value. Following Binance's announcement, the price of XRM fell from a 24-hour high of $166.54 to its current price of $111.
Binance's announcement is an example of a tightrope walk that seeks to grow cryptocurrency business adoption and revenue while bowing to increased legal scrutiny in major markets.
