Binance to Delist Monero Privacy Token; XMR Slides

Monero (XMR) slumped about 30% Tuesday to a 20-month low after crypto exchange Binance said it will stop listing the privacy token as of Feb. 20.

Monero, as well as the three other tokens to be delisted – Aragon (ANT), Multichain (MULTI) and Vai (VAI) – no longer meet the standards Binance expects, the exchange said in blog post.

"When a coin or token no longer meets this standard, or the industry changes, we conduct a more in-depth review and potentially delist it," Binance said.

Privacy coins are cryptocurrencies that preserve anonymity by obscuring the flow of money across their networks, making it difficult to determine who sent what to whom. As such, they are not popular with regulators and law enforcement. Crypto exchange OKX announced a delisting of XMR and other privacy-focused tokens including dash (DASH) and ZCash (ZCH) at the end of last year.

Monero slumped to as low as $114.26, the least since June 2022, following the announcement, TradingView data show.

Multichain, at the time one of the largest bridging protocols in the crypto world, suffered a $130 million exploit in July. A week later, it said it was ceasing operations following the detention of CEO Zhaojun and his sister by Chinese police. The token slumped 36% today to $1.36, CoinMarketCap data show.

Tokens of Aragon, a blockchain-based platform that allows users to build and manage their own decentralized autonomous organizations, were little changed, as were tokens of Vai.

Withdrawals of the tokens will not be supported after May 20.

Read More: Binance Is Facing Regulatory Headwinds as It Tries to Re-Enter UK Market: Bloomberg

UPDATE (Feb. 6, 12:32 UTC): Adds details on the other tokens delisted, quote from the announcement and background/context about privacy tokens.

UPDATE (Feb. 6, 15:53 UTC): Rewrites first paragraph to focus on price movement; adds detail on Multichain, Aragon; updates prices