- Binance announced its plan to delist 12 private tokens in four European countries following local regulations.
- The crypto exchange affirmed that it would notify its users within these countries about the delisting of tokens on its platform.
- Binance emailed its users in France, alerting them of its decision to no longer provide crypto-assets with enhanced anonymity (CAE).
The international cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, announced it would adhere to local laws and regulations by delisting a few private tokens.
On May 31, Binance released a statement announcing that it would be placing restrictions on the trading of twelve tokens in four European countries, namely, Poland, Italy, France, and Spain.
The restriction is said to begin on June 26 and would include private tokens like PIVX (PIVX), Dash (DASH), Navcoin (NAV), Horizen (ZEN), Firo (FIRO), Beam (BEAM), Decred (DCR), Mobilecoin (MOB), Monero (XMR), Secret (SCRT), Zcash (ZEC), and Verge (XVG).
A representative of Binance confided to a media outlet, saying that the crypto exchange was committed to supporting as many quality operations within the crypto industry. The representative stressed that the firm was adhering to the laws and regulations regarding the privacy of coins. Hence, it would no longer offer those tokens to users in the listed four countries.
Binance is preparing to be less private, as it emailed its French users, stating that it would no longer provide enhanced anonymity crypto assets or CAE. This would be effective in European countries due to the regulatory requirements in those countries.
“We are sending you this email to officially notify you that due to local regulatory requirements, Binance is no longer able to provide crypto-assets with enhanced anonymity (CAE) (commonly called ‘privacy coins’ in English) in France,” the email stated.
The governments of numerous countries worldwide have opposed privacy-focused cryptocurrencies (Monero and Zcash being prime examples) and other privacy tools crypto offers. Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing concerns are the primary reasons for this opposition.
In September 2022, Huobi, a major crypto exchange, delisted Monero, Dash, and other privacy coins due to Huobi’s token management policy and regulatory pressures.
Huobi also delisted 33 tokens in January 2023; the Seychelles-based crypto exchange released a statement announcing that its reason for delisting these tokens was to promote the healthy growth of the crypto industry. Before this, the United States authorities ruled against using a central crypto mixer, Tornado Cash.
Amid all these, global jurisdictions have begun applying The Travel Rule, an effective AML regulation by the Financial Action Task Force. One of the main features of this Travel Rule is the requirement to pass specific customer data about crypto transactions to regulators.
Conclusion
Privacy tokens like Monero and Dash that obscure blockchain transactions to provide user privacy are being delisted in France, Spain, Poland, and Italy, just as global jurisdictions have begun the use of ‘The Travel Rule.’
