Privacy tokens experienced a significant increase in delistings by centralized exchanges in 2024, reaching a record high since 2021, according to a recent report by Kaiko. The report analyzed the delistings of Monero (XMR), Dash (DASH), Decred (DCR), Mask (MASK), Rose (ROSE), and Zcash (ZEC). Among these tokens, XMR had the highest number of delistings with a sixfold increase from the previous year, followed by DASH.
The primary driver behind these delistings is the mounting regulatory pressure in various jurisdictions over the past few years. In 2018, Japan banned the trading of privacy coins, while Australian and South Korean regulators followed suit in 2020. Other significant jurisdictions, such as the UAE and the EU, have also implemented bans on privacy tokens, with the EU introducing the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation.
As a result of this regulatory pressure, several crypto exchanges have decided to delist privacy tokens. Kraken recently restricted access to XMR trading pairs for European users, while Binance completely delisted the token from its platform. OKX and Huobi are two other exchanges that have initiated delisting efforts due to regulatory concerns.
However, the report also highlighted that crypto exchanges facing less regulatory scrutiny, like Poloniex and Yobit, have seen an increase in trading volume for privacy tokens. These two exchanges now represent almost 40% of the trading volume for top privacy tokens, up from 18% in 2021. The demand for privacy tokens on these platforms has become so high that it often exceeds the liquidity available in the order book.