Kraken Delists Monero in Privacy Coin Crackdown, XMR Dumps 15%

• The regulatory crackdown takes its toll on Monero, the top privacy coin.
• Kraken announces Monero’s departure from the platform’s EEA offerings.
• Kraken’s European customers have until the end of 2024 to withdraw XMR.

The leading privacy crypto Monero (XMR) is being rocked by the whirlwinds of shifting legislation regarding digital assets. In the latest instance, Kraken, one of the largest crypto exchanges, has announced the imminent delisting of Monero in the European Economic Area (EEA). 

Liked by crypto enthusiasts for its untraceability, XMR tumbled below its historically sensitive support levels of $150 on October 1, 2024. After Kraken’s exchange posted the news on their website, the following selling action has slimmed Monero’s global market capitalization by $280 million, going from $2.84 billion to $2.56 billion in less than 24 hours.

According to Kraken’s support hub, the popular exchange had “no choice” but to delist Monero and even assured its customers that Kraken’s staff “did not take this decision lightly” while remaining committed to providing “an exceptional trading experience” for its EEA clients.

Here’s the Timeline of Kraken’s XMR Delisting

Firstly, Kraken will deactivate all of its XMR trading pairs on October 31, 2024, at 3 PM UTC. The affected pairs are XMR/USD, XMR/EUR, XMR/BTC, and XMR/USDT. Any remaining open XMR orders will be canceled, and the funds will be returned to the customer’s wallet.

EEA customers will have two months from this deadline to withdraw their tokens from Kraken. On December 31, 2024, at 3 PM UTC, the remaining XMR coins in EEA-residing accounts will be automatically converted to Bitcoin (BTC) at the ongoing exchange rate.

On January 6, 2025, Kraken’s staff will return the converted XMR as BTC to their EEA customers who failed to withdraw by the deadline. This follows a compliance-driven procedure similar to Binance’s Monero delisting in February 2024.

What’s Next for Monero?

Following the announcement of Kraken’s XMR delisting, Monero tumbled to a three-month low, repeating a similar pattern to February 2024. XMR’s unexpected delisting from Binance caused a sudden drop from $165 to $104.7, the lowest XMR point in yearly terms.

Crypto enthusiasts argue that due to the masked nature of Monero, the alternative cryptocurrency will stay around as long as non-KYC crypto exchanges exist. “Regardless of if it maintains this price or goes below a dollar, best believe whales will be using this technology to funnel their wealth,” stated XMR holder Claus.

For some, XMR was not intended to be traded on major centralized exchanges (CEXs). Crypto enthusiast Sylvain Saurel exclaimed that Monero’s situation “will be perfect” when all major regulatory-compliant exchanges remove XMR.

“This goes against the whole point of Monero,” adds Saurel, considering XMR as proof that even blockchain monitoring services like Chainalysis can’t decipher Monero’s secrets, focused on the ability for any crypto trader to leave no mark on the private blockchain.

On the Flipside

• These changes do not apply to American customers due to different regulatory approaches.
• The European Union is hosting MiCA, a new regulatory framework fully kicking in 2025.
• The regulatory framework frowns upon privacy chains, implying a full-scale ban on privacy coins.

Why This Matters

Regulators have criticized privacy coins and decentralized crypto mixers, as privacy chains hinder the regulatory body’s ability to perform any regulatory oversight.

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