Binance backtracks on privacy coins in Europe

Binance has reversed its plan to delist several privacy coins in Europe after the crypto exchange “carefully considered feedback from the community and several projects”.

In a comment, Binance said: “We have revised how we classify privacy coins on our platform to comply with EU-wide regulatory requirements.”

Binance had revealed its initial delisting plan of private tokens back in May in an email to customers in France, Italy, Spain, and Poland. It stated that it would cease offering trading services for twelve cryptocurrencies that enable anonymous transactions. The list included major privacy coins like Monero, Dash, and Zcash.

The move was a result of the implementation of the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation by the European Union. These rules were signed into law on 31 May 2023.

Its imposition of ‘travel rule’ on cryptocurrency transactions posed potential legal challenges for businesses trading privacy coins within the Union. Information about the two parties involved in a cryptocurrency transfer was going to be collected under this, directly going against the guiding beliefs of these privacy – enhancing coins.

However, the exchange has now decided to revise its operations to comply with EU’s regulatory standards. Since Binance operates as an exchange registered in various European Union jurisdictions, it also said that it is “obliged” to follow local regulations that require them to “be able to monitor transactions for coins listed on our platform”.

Projects like Verge (XVG), which were going to be affected, went on to Twitter to reassure its community members saying: “We are pleased to inform you that $XVG will remain unaffected by @binance’s trading restrictions on #privacy coins in certain EU countries.

“Verge utilises a public #blockchain with visible transactions, amounts, and wallet addresses.”