Kraken will delist Monero (XMR) in Europe ahead of MiCA Phase 2

Kraken has decided to remove Monero (XMR) from trading in the European markets before the end of October. The exchange statement cites new regulatory changes in its decision.

Markets in Crypto-Assets Act (MiCA) rules are set to come into full force in December and the changes could be on the back of these additional requirements.

Kraken will halt Monero trading by October-end

The crypto exchange, Kraken has announced that it will delist Monero (XMR) in the European Economic Area (EEA). Per the statement, the exchange’s decision is part of its token review to comply with the law in the region. It said, “We have no choice but to delist Monero (XMR) in the European Economic Area (EEA) due to regulatory changes.”

Kraken will stop XMR trading and deposits on October 31, at 3:00 PM UTC, for users in the European region. This will include XMR/USD, XMR/EUR, and any other XMR pairs. 

Kraken said it will allow withdrawals until December 31, 3:00 PM UTC. After that, XMR will be converted to Bitcoin (BTC) at the market rate in user accounts. Kraken says that it will send this converted BTC back to respective users by January 6, 2025.

Final phase of MiCA will be implemented in December

Europe’s digital asset framework under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Act, or MiCA, came into force in June 2023. Its implementation was planned for 2 phases. The first phase was implemented in June 2024 and the second phase is marked for December 2024.

The comprehensive MiCA framework will only come into full effect after Phase 2. The upcoming phase also covers regulations for Crypto Asset Service Providers (CASPs).

European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) released a draft document in January on the qualification of crypto-assets as financial instruments under Article 16. The final guidelines around this will also be released in December.

Ahead of the MiCA framework, several exchanges had made changes to their offerings. For instance, Bitstamp delisted the EUR-based stablecoin EURT earlier in June.

As per GT Law, MiCA categorizes crypto into three types: asset-referenced tokens (ARTs), electronic money tokens (EMTs), and other crypto-assets, including utility tokens. Before listing tokens for trading, issuers were reportedly required to release a detailed white paper and participate in the authorization process.