Monero (XMR) has been the worst performing crypto asset in the past 24 hours. The privacy-focused coin has fallen 15% over the past day, falling below key support levels amid a steep decline.
Chart of XMR's price action over the past week from TradingView.com
The drop comes as Bitcoin tries its best to hold onto the $29,000 mark. Despite BTC's rise, other altcoins seem to be stagnating, pointing to the strength of the major cryptocurrency.
Monero appears to be falling following the news that it is being delisted from a popular exchange.
No official reason was given in the news, but many believe this makes no sense as Monero should fall within the realm of privacy rights.
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Monero Crater 15%
XMR has fallen 15% in the past 24 hours after Bittrex announced that it would discontinue support for XMR, along with several other cryptocurrencies that fall into the same category as Monero.
Bittrex announced the following:
“The following markets will be removed on Friday, January 15th, 2021 at 23:00 UTC: BTC-XMR, ETH-XMR, USDT-XMR, BTC-ZEC, ETH-ZEC, USDT-ZEC, USD-ZEC, BTC-DASH, ETH-DASH, USDT-DASH, USD-DASH. Any trades using these tokens must be made by Friday, January 15th, 2021 at 23:00 UTC. After a market is removed, Bittrex typically attempts to give users up to 30 days to withdraw the delisted tokens, though in some cases the withdrawal period may be shortened. Users must withdraw their tokens by the posted withdrawal deadline.”
DASH and ZEC also fell on the news, with many seeing this as a blow to the crypto bull market and viability.
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A very unfortunate move?
Speculating that the move may be related to potential privacy concerns shared by the government, attorney Jake Szubabinski wrote:
“It would be extremely disappointing to see an exchange remove assets simply because it has privacy features. There are no laws or regulations mandating this, only the Department of Justice's position that privacy “indicates possible criminal activity.”
ShapeShift CEO Erik Voorhees suggested the motivation might be different than he thought. Voorhees wrote:
“Jake… you may not understand why they are actually being removed. Hopefully one day we can discuss it.”
He did not elaborate on what this meant.
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Featured Image from Unsplash Chart from TradingView.com Price Tags: xmrusd, xmrbtc Monero (XMR) Craters 15% Amid Delisting From Leading Exchange
