Due to regulatory changes, Kraken will delist Monero in the European Economic Area, halting all XMR trading and deposits.
Kraken, a cryptocurrency exchange headquartered in the United States, will discontinue the listing of Monero in the European Economic Area due to regulatory changes.
Trading and transactions for XMR markets, such as XMR/USD and XMR/EUR, will be discontinued for clients registered in the EEA at 3:00 PM UTC on October 31, according to a blog announcement from Kraken. Orders that are currently open will be automatically closed at that time.
Kraken has established the withdrawal deadline for XMR as December 31. Any XMR balances that remain after this date will be converted to Bitcoin (BTC) at market rates, with distributions being finalized by January 6, 2025.
The decision is made in response to the growing regulatory scrutiny of privacy currencies, such as Monero, which provide improved transaction anonymity.
Even though this decision was not made lightly, Kraken emphasized that it is “steadfast in its commitment to supporting the most comprehensive set of digital assets possible, in alignment with our regulatory and compliance obligations.”
In June, the exchange discontinued XMR functionality for customers in Belgium and Ireland.
Major crypto exchanges like Binance and OKX have replicated the delisting trend as privacy coins are subject to heightened scrutiny. Crypto service providers are compelled to cease supporting privacy-focused cryptocurrencies due to the MiCA legislation, which will be implemented in December, and new anti-money laundering regulations.
According to Patrick Hansen, Circle’s EU strategy and policy director, the new AML regulations forbid consumers from making merchant payments with tokens like XMR and crypto-asset service providers from offering privacy coins.