Tornado Cash's governance token TORN has experienced a significant drop exceeding 50% since November 26, as reported by CoinGecko. Interestingly, this sharp decline coincided with the announcement by Binance, a major cryptocurrency exchange, about its decision to delist the TORN token.
Tornado Cash functions as a cryptocurrency mixing protocol where TORN is utilized for voting on proposed protocol upgrades. Over the span of November 26 to 27, the value of the coin drastically plummeted by 57%, tumbling from $3.90 to $1.66. Binance, known as the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of trading volume, declared that it would cease TORN deposits on December 8 and halt withdrawals after March 7, 2024.
Back in August, Tornado Cash faced sanctions from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control for purportedly facilitating money laundering, consequently prohibiting the use of the protocol by U.S. residents. Initially, Binance had announced its restriction of U.S. residents from using its exchange. However, on November 21, the U.S. Department of Justice revealed that Binance had entered into a plea agreement, acknowledging that it had served some U.S. customers without the necessary operating license in the country.
In their official announcement, Binance justified the delisting of TORN by stating that the token no longer meets the criteria for a marketable asset due to various factors. They mentioned that at Binance, regular reviews are conducted on every digital asset listed to maintain high standards. If a currency or token no longer aligns with these standards or changes in the industry, a thorough assessment is carried out, and potential delisting might occur.
