Monero (XMR), a leading privacy-focused cryptocurrency, saw its price drop significantly after Binance announced its upcoming delisting from the platform. Binance plans to delist Monero along with other tokens such as Aragon (ANT), Multichain (MULTI), and Vai (VAI) on February 20, 2024.
With the delisting, Binance will remove all trading pairs associated with Monero, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, and Binance’s native coin, BNB. The exchange stated that all trading orders will be automatically removed after trading is suspended in each trading pair and withdrawals of these tokens will not be supported after May 20, 2024.
Binance also mentioned the possibility of converting delisted XMR to stablecoins on behalf of users after May 21, although this conversion is not guaranteed. The exchange plans to provide separate notification before the conversion takes place, after which the stablecoins will be credited to users’ Binance accounts.
The decision to delist Monero was influenced by several factors, including its contribution to a healthy and sustainable cryptocurrency ecosystem, evidence of unethical or fraudulent activity, and its response to a due diligence request from Binance.
News of Monero’s delisting had an immediate impact on its price, dropping nearly 19% to $136 on Binance. Although it has recovered slightly to $140.30 at the time of writing, Monero is trading at levels not seen since September 2023.
Binance is not the only exchange to delist Monero, as OKX also delisted Monero and Zcash, another privacy-focused coin, in early 2024. Some industry observers see this delisting as a potential indicator of problems facing Binance, given ongoing regulatory issues. and former CEO Changpeng Zhao’s legal troubles.
Despite the delisting, Monero continues to be a prominent privacy coin in the cryptocurrency market, recognized for its focus on user privacy and anonymity.