Kraken, a leading cryptocurrency exchange, announced its decision to delist the privacy coin Monero (CRYPTO: XMR) for its customers in Ireland and Belgium.
What Happened: Kraken will cease all XMR trading and deposits starting May 10, an official press release stated. The exchange has advised its customers to close all margin positions by this date to avoid forced closure.
XMR withdrawals will be halted on June 10, post which any remaining XMR balance will be automatically converted into bitcoin.
Kraken’s decision to delist Monero follows similar moves by other major exchanges. Binance delisted Monero from its main platform in February after flagging several privacy coins for monitoring in January. Binance also delisted privacy coins in Belgium in September 2023. OKX, another crypto exchange, followed suit by delisting Monero along with Zcash and Dash in January.
Price Action: At the time of writing, Monero is down 0.2% in the past 24 hours, bringing its monthly loss to 7.7%.
Why It Matters: The delisting of privacy coins like Monero is largely driven by the upcoming European Unon Anti Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR). The regulation is expected to receive final approval this month and it will prohibit crypto-asset service providers from offering accounts for privacy coins. The regulation will be enforced three years after its publication, around summer 2027.
The move by Kraken and other exchanges to delist privacy coins is a clear indication of the increasing regulatory pressure on cryptocurrencies, particularly those that offer high levels of privacy and anonymity.
These developments underscore the challenges faced by privacy coins in navigating the regulatory landscape, and the potential impact on their adoption and use.
What’s Next: The influence of altcoins and Bitcoin as an institutional asset class are topics expected to be thoroughly explored at Benzinga’s upcoming Future of Digital Assets event on Nov. 19.
This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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