The Demise of Private Digital Coins Like Monero and Zcash

Binance’s Mass Delisting: The Final Blow

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, announced the delisting of Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC), and Dash (DASH) on February 20. This wasn’t a one-off—it was the final step in a years-long effort by governments to regulate financial privacy out of existence.

Why Binance’s Move Matters

• Binance handled nearly 60% of Monero’s global trading volume.
• The dominoes fell earlier: Kraken and OKX had already delisted major privacy coins.
• The message is clear: Privacy is no longer welcome in regulated finance.

The 3-Step Execution of Privacy Coins

1. Regulatory Pressure (The Noose Tightens)

• The Travel Rule forces exchanges to collect and share sender/receiver data.
• The U.S. Treasury sanctioned tools like Tornado Cash.
• The EU’s MiCA regulation prohibits anonymous crypto transactions.

2. Banking Chokepoints (Cutting Off Fiat Access)

• Major banks refuse to service crypto exchanges that support privacy coins.
• USD/EUR on-ramps for XMR vanished first.
• Now, even crypto-to-crypto pairs are being removed.

3. Developer & Miner Exodus (Killing the Networks)

• Miners abandoned XMR due to lower profitability.
• Zcash creators admitted defeat and shifted to enterprise compliance.
• Dash rebranded to “digital cash,” abandoning its privacy features.

Who’s Celebrating the Death of Privacy Coins?

• Governments get full financial surveillance capabilities.
• Banks eliminate the last traces of untraceable competition.
• Public blockchains that comply with KYC standards pave the way for CBDCs.

The Last Stand for Privacy Maximalists

1. Underground P2P Markets

• LocalMonero and Haveno DEX are still operating (for now).
• Atomic swaps might keep XMR alive in darknet markets.

2. Temporary Solutions for Ensuring Data Protection

• Secret Network (SCRT) offers private smart contracts.
• Railgun and Aztec Protocol add privacy layers to Ethereum.

3. Cash & Precious Metals

• When online anonymity is lost, offline privacy with cash or gold remains a fallback.

What This Means for Crypto’s Future

• Privacy is now criminalized in regulated financial systems.
• All crypto transactions are monitored like traditional banking.
• The cypherpunk vision of self-sovereign, censorship-resistant money is effectively dead.

How to Protect Yourself in a Post-Privacy World

• BTC and ETH are fully traceable.
• Use CoinJoin tools like Wasabi Wallet.
• Shift to decentralized exchanges such as Bisq or HodlHodl.
• Consider international or offshore alternatives if you understand the risks.

Conclusion

Binance’s delisting of Monero, Zcash, and Dash wasn’t just about regulatory compliance—it marked the end of censorship-resistant money. In today’s financial world, privacy equals defiance, and defiance is being extinguished.