Cryptocurrencies will become less private in Europe as major exchange Binance prepares to delist all privacy coins from countries like France and Italy.
Privacy coins like Monero to start June 26 or Zcash, will no longer be available for trading by Binance customers in France, Italy, Poland, and Spain. A Binance spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the new restrictions affect 12 coins in total. Affected tokens include Decred (DCR), Dash, ZEC, Horizen (ZEN), PIVX (PIVX), Navcoin (NAV), Secret (SCRT), Verge (XVG), Firo (FIRO), Beam (BEAM), XMR, and MobileCoin (MOB) .
“While our goal is to support as many high-quality projects as possible, we must comply with local laws and regulations regarding privacy coin transactions to ensure that we can continue to serve as many users as possible,” said a Binance representative. Add to : “As part of Binance's ongoing compliance process, we have contacted affected users to inform them that they will no longer be able to buy or trade privacy tokens on our platform after June 26.”
In an email to French clients, Binance stated that it is no longer able to offer Crypto Assets with Enhanced Anonymity (CAE) in several European countries due to local regulatory requirements. Unlike common cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, privacy-focused coins like Mon ero or Zcash are designed to obfuscate blockchain transactions to increase user privacy.
Governments around the world have been actively opposing the adoption of privacy-focused cryptocurrencies and other encrypted privacy tools, citing anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing concerns. In September 2022, major cry ptocurrency exchange Huobi ended support for seven privacy coins including Monero, citing regulatory pressure. Previously, US authorities approved the use of major crypto mixer Tornado Cash.
The news comes as jurisdictions around the world apply the main anti-money laundering regulation of the Financial Action Task Force, known as the travel rule. One of the main aspects of the Travel Rule is the requirement to pass certain customer data on crypto transactions to regulators.
