Binance will delist 12 privacy coins, including Monero and Zcash, in France, Italy, Poland and Spain.

Crypto exchange Binance plans to impose trading restrictions on certain anonymity-enhancing cryptocurrencies, more commonly known as privacy coins, in certain parts of the world. 

In an email to users based in France, Italy, Poland and Spain, Binance cited local regulatory requirements as the reason behind the measure which will come into effect on June 26.

The same email named 12 privacy coins that will no longer be available for trading: Decred (DCR), Dash (DASH), Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC), Horizon (ZEN), PIVX, Navcoin (NAV), Secret (SCRT), Firo (FIRO), BEAM, MobileCoin (MOB), and Verge (XVG).

The move comes as the European Union (EU) formally signed the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation into law on Wednesday.

Article 68 of the law stipulates that trading platforms should not allow crypto assets that have an inbuilt anonymization function, unless the holders of these tokens and their transaction history can be identified by authorized service providers.

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— Ian Sagstetter (@iansagstette) May 16, 2023

MiCA is expected to come into effect after being published in the EU’s official journal sometime this month.

Meanwhile, some of the entities behind the privacy coins impacted by Binance’s delisting have spoken out against the decision. Secret Network asserted that its native token SCRT is not, in fact, a “privacy coin,” but rather a platform for building decentralized applications that don’t leak data.

“It’s one of the only blockchains that can support GDPR-type regulations. We’ve clarified this to Binance, and their team is re-evaluating making SCRT available to EU users,” said Secret Network on Twitter.

On the other hand, Electric Coin Co, the company behind Zcash, suggested that Binance’s delisting of certain cryptocurrencies poses a “direct and imminent threat to the privacy and security of individuals, families, businesses, communities, and entire nations.”

This makes it all the more disappointing that Binance made its choice to kill a consumer’s right to privacy. To our knowledge, Zcash complies with all other laws and regulations in the EU — including the so-called Travel Rule and the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive.

— Electric Coin Co. (@ElectricCoinCo) May 31, 2023