The privacy-focused cryptocurrency Monero (XMR) has experienced a significant drop in value, sinking to multi-month lows, following the announcement by Binance, a major cryptocurrency exchange, that it will delist the token from its platform.
Binance declared on February 6, 2024, that it would delist Monero along with other tokens, including Aragon (ANT), Multichain (MULTI), and Vai (VAI), with the delisting set to take place on February 20, 2024.
As a result of the impending delisting, Binance will eliminate all four trading pairs involving Monero, which include trading against Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Tether (USDT), and Binance’s native coin, Binance Coin (BNB). This decision will come into effect, and all trade orders will be automatically removed after trading ceases in each respective trading pair. Withdrawals of these tokens will no longer be supported after May 20, 2024.
After May 21, delisted XMR tokens may potentially be converted into stablecoins on behalf of users. However, Binance has emphasized that this conversion is not guaranteed. A separate notification will be issued before the conversion takes place, and stablecoins will be credited to users’ Binance accounts afterward.
Binance’s decision to delist Monero is grounded in several factors, including its assessment of contributions to a healthy and sustainable crypto ecosystem, evidence of unethical or fraudulent conduct or negligence, and responsiveness to Binance’s periodic due diligence requests, among others.
The announcement of Monero’s delisting led to a sharp decline in its price. Within hours of the news, XMR plummeted to a low of $136 on Binance, representing a nearly 19% loss in value. However, the price has somewhat recovered since, with XMR trading at $140.30 at the time of writing. These price levels haven’t been seen since mid-September 2023.
Binance is not the only exchange to delist Monero. In late 2023, another crypto exchange, OKX, also announced its intention to delist Monero and another privacy-focused coin, Zcash (ZEC), on January 5, 2024. Notably, Binance previously revealed plans to delist all privacy tokens in countries like France and Italy in May 2023 but later reversed this decision in June 2023.
Some online commentators speculate that the delisting could have consequences not only for Monero but also for Binance itself. Cryptocurrency trader John Brown expressed his view that this delisting may signify the gradual decline of Binance.
Despite the change in leadership at Binance, following former CEO Changpeng Zhao’s guilty plea in late 2023 for breaking anti-money laundering and sanctions laws, the exchange continues to face regulatory pressures globally. Recent reports indicated that Binance.US was banned from operating in the U.S. states of Florida and Alaska. Zhao’s sentencing in the U.S. is scheduled for February 23, 2024, and he could potentially face up to 18 months in prison.
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