- Poloniex and Yobit now handle 40% of privacy token trading volumes, benefiting from less stringent regulations.
- Despite mass delistings by major platforms, investor demand for privacy tokens remains high on smaller exchanges.
Over the past year, privacy tokens such as Monero (XMR), Dash (DASH), and Zcash (ZEC) have faced significant challenges in the global cryptocurrency markets, witnessing a record number of delistings from centralized exchanges. According to a recent report from Kaiko, these types of cryptocurrencies experienced close to 60 delistings, a peak since 2021.
Major exchanges, including Kraken and Binance, have cited regulatory pressures as the primary reason for removing these tokens. These actions reflect an increasingly stringent regulatory landscape across several key jurisdictions.
“We did not take this decision lightly and remain committed to providing our European clients with an exceptional trading experience,” Kraken exchange stated.
Japan pioneered banning the trading of privacy coins in 2018, a trend followed by regulators in Australia and South Korea in 2020. More recently, the European Union and the United Arab Emirates have implemented regulations that limit the use of these cryptocurrencies.
Despite regulatory restrictions in larger markets, platforms like Poloniex and Yobit, which face less regulatory scrutiny, have seen an uptick in trading volume for these tokens. These two exchanges now account for nearly 40% of the total trading volume for top privacy tokens, a significant increase from just 18% in 2021.
This pattern suggests that although regulatory environments in some parts of the world are restricting access to privacy tokens, there remains considerable demand from investors on platforms that allow their trade.
This persistent interest has also led to situations where the demand on these less regulated exchanges sometimes exceeds the available liquidity, as indicated by the Kaiko report.
Monero, Dash, and Zcash all share a focus on privacy, albeit with slightly different technical approaches. Monero is completely private by default, while Dash and Zcash offer optional privacy.
In terms of performance, they have all suffered significant declines from their all-time highs, with Dash being the hardest hit. However, Zcash has shown signs of recovery in recent months.
