Ahead of an impending ban, Kraken ceases Monero trading in Ireland and Belgium.

Crypto exchange Kraken has made the decision to wind down support for the Monero (XMR) privacy token for its customers in Ireland and Belgium. In a notice posted by Kraken, it was announced that trading and deposits for XMR would cease from May 10. The exchange also stated that all margin trading positions must be closed before the deadline, or they will be automatically closed by Kraken. Furthermore, Kraken confirmed that it will completely delist Monero from its platform on June 10, meaning withdrawals for the XMR token will no longer be possible for users in Ireland and Belgium. After the deadline, any remaining XMR tokens in user accounts will be automatically converted into Bitcoin (BTC) by Kraken. This decision by Kraken comes in response to recent developments in the European Union, which now prohibit crypto asset service providers (CASPs) from offering accounts to anonymous users or supporting privacy-focused tokens like Monero. Interestingly, the price of the Monero token has not been affected by this announcement, remaining stable around $132.35. According to CoinGecko, the token reached a 24-hour high of $136.59 and a weekly high of $139.15. This follows the delisting of Monero by Binance in February, which caused the token’s price to decline temporarily. It is worth noting that regulators around the world have been cracking down on privacy-focused tokens since 2018, with Japan being the first to initiate a ban on anonymity-enhanced tokens. In 2020, South Korea and Australia also implemented similar bans and delistings. Furthermore, Dubai released guidelines in 2023 prohibiting the issuance of anonymity-enhanced tokens and all virtual asset activities related to privacy coins. Other exchanges such as Huobi and OKX have also delisted Monero and other privacy-focused digital assets. Huobi delisted Monero in September 2022 to comply with global regulations, while OKX made the decision in January 2023 following feedback from its users.