Important OKX Delisting Announcement Concerning Large Subset of Altcoins

TL;DR

• OKX, a major cryptocurrency exchange, has announced the removal of several spot trading pairs, including some popular assets.
• The delisting process is set to occur in stages, with specific pairs being removed on different dates. Users are advised to cancel relevant orders in advance.
• The decision to delist these pairs is based on user feedback and a review program, with the exchange also suspending deposits and planning to halt withdrawals for certain tokens in the future.

OKX Targets Monero (XMR) And Other Cryptocurrencies

The leading cryptocurrency exchange – OKX – announced that it will remove 20 spot trading pairs from its platform, such as XMR-BTC, DASH-BTC, ZEC-BTC, FLOW-USDC, ANT-USDC, KSM-USDC, FSN-USDC, CAPO-USDT, CVP-USDT and more.

The delisting effort will come on the stages, with some pairs scrapped on January 4 and others the following day. Popular assets like Monero (XMR), Dash (DASH), and Zcash (ZEC) will be involved in the second phase.

OKX advised customers to cancel orders related to the aforementioned coins before the disclosed deadline. It based its decision on feedback from users and a particular program that follows whether all trading pairs fulfill the necessary criteria. 

“In order to maintain a robust spot trading environment, we constantly monitor the performance of all listed trading pairs and review their listing qualifications on a regular basis,” OKX added.

The prices of some of these tokens have headed south shortly after the announcement. XMR is down nearly 3% in the past 24 hours, while ZEC has plunged by 10% (per CoinGecko’s data). However, this is in line with the broader market decline over the same period, so it’s unclear if it’s related to the OKX announcement.

Earlier this week, the company suspended deposits of XMR, DASH, ZEC, ZEN, FSN, ZKS, CAPO, and CVP. It also vowed to halt withdrawals with the assets on March 5, 2024.

Privacy Coins on the Radar of Regulators

A large number of the pairs that OKX is set to delist are privacy coins. These have been on the radar of international regulators for quite a while.

As CryptoPotato reported, Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) forbade all activities involving XMR, ZEC, and other tokens of that type in February this year.

European watchdogs have also shown a hostile stance toward privacy coins. In May, the European Banking Authority urged crypto firms to stay vigilant for clients using such assets.

As a result, Binance said it would make XMR, DASH, ZEC, XVG, and other tokens no longer available in Italy, France, Spain, and Poland. However, the exchange reversed its decision a month later.