Key Points
- Kraken plans to delist the privacy coin Monero for customers in Ireland and Belgium on June 10.
- This decision comes in the wake of new EU Anti Money Laundering Regulation.
Kraken, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange, intends to delist Monero, a privacy-focused cryptocurrency, from its platform for users in Ireland and Belgium starting from June 10.
The exchange has clarified that all trading and deposits involving Monero will cease from May 10. Additionally, it has advised users to close all margin positions by this date to avoid forced closure.
Automatic Conversion to Bitcoin
Kraken has also indicated that Monero withdrawals will be halted on June 10. At this point, any remaining Monero balance will be automatically converted into Bitcoin.
This move by Kraken follows a similar decision by Binance, which delisted Monero from its platform in February. Binance had earlier placed "monitoring tags" on several privacy coins in January and had also delisted privacy coins in Belgium in September 2023.
Another cryptocurrency exchange, OKX, also followed suit and delisted Monero, along with other privacy-focused coins like Zcash and Dash, in January.
New EU Regulations
The decision to delist Monero comes amid the impending EU Anti Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR). This regulation is expected to receive final approval in the European Parliament and the Council of the EU this month and will be applicable three years after its publication, around summer 2027.
The AMLR prohibits crypto-asset service providers from providing accounts for privacy coins, a practice that is already widespread. The EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets legislation (MiCA), which came into force in June 2023 and will be fully applicable from Dec. 30, 2024, also prohibits crypto assets with built-in anonymization.
Monero's price has remained relatively stable over the past 24 hours, with a slight decrease of around 1% to $132.60.
