Kraken cryptocurrency exchange has decided to suspend trading of Monero (XMR) for users within the European Economic Area (EEA) following strict government regulations on digital currencies.
Starting October 31st, all trading pairs including XMR/EUR, XMR/BTC, and XMR/USDT will be closed and users will no longer be able to buy or sell coins on the platform. All outstanding orders will be canceled and funds will be transferred to the user's wallet.
Users have until December 31, 2024 to withdraw their Monero coins. After the deadline, your coins will be automatically converted to Bitcoin at the current market rate.
Following this announcement, Monero's price fell by 14% to below $150. In just one day, Monero's market cap fell by $280 million, shrinking from $2.84 billion to $2.56 billion.
However, this is not the first time Monera has faced such problems. Earlier this year, the Binance exchange also delisted the coin, causing its price to drop from $165 to around $104.
At the time of writing, Monero was trading at $141.41, up 4% over the past 24 hours, but trading volume was down 30.9%.
Many in the cryptocurrency industry have mixed feelings about this situation. Some believe Monero's focus on privacy will allow it to survive even if it becomes difficult to trade on major exchanges. Other proponents, like Monero holder Kraus, argued in X that wealthy investors will continue to use Monero for its privacy features regardless of price.
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