Cryptocurrency Exchanges Continue to Delist Privacy Coins Monero and Zcash

Cryptocurrency exchanges have been increasingly removing privacy coins such as Monero and Zcash from their platforms. On January 5th, OKX, a prominent crypto exchange, delisted several key privacy-oriented trading pairs, citing failure to meet listing criteria. Just last week, Binance added a monitoring tag to Monero, Zcash, Firo, and MobileCoin, indicating a potential end to their support.

According to information on Reddit, Binance's lending program for XMR has already been closed, and XMR has been removed from the list of available assets. Interestingly, XMR was added as collateral relatively recently in May 2022.

As a result of these developments, Zcash has seen a nearly 19% drop in its value, while Monero has dipped by almost 3%. Kaiko analysts report that the liquidity of these privacy coins has reached record lows.

Despite the delistings and price declines, privacy coins, which are a cornerstone of cryptocurrency ideals, continue to attract investors' attention. Monero and Zcash together boast a total market capitalization of $3.48 billion.

However, Binance's negative stance on these coins poses a significant threat to their market presence. With a daily trading volume of $15 billion, Binance's decision to halt trading would be a severe blow to both projects.

In light of Binance's previous legal troubles and the $4 billion fine it paid for violating US banking laws in November 2023, the platform is left with no choice but to implement stricter anti-money laundering measures and a robust "Know Your Customer" system.

The current battle revolves around preventing Binance from completely abandoning privacy coins. Some projects within this niche have devised workarounds to be listed on Binance, but Monero remains steadfast in preserving its core principles, rejecting any demands that compromise the essence of the project.