Kraken Drops Support For Monero In The UK, Jesse Powell Answers Why

Kraken drops support for Monero in the UK as it caved into regulatory pressure which can eventually put an end to the privacy tokens in the region so let’s read more in our latest Monero news today.

Kraken CEO Jesse Powell posted on Reddit to discuss the situation as Kraken drops support for Monero in the UK. He implied that this was a decision he didn’t want to take but with one eye on the broader business in the UK it was something that needed to be done. He said:

“Unfortunately, we have to pick our battles and look out for the broader business in the country.”

Driven by the Financial Action Task Force directives, the privacy tokens became demonized over the past two years and It eventually led to many examples of exchanges delisting privacy tokens over this time frame. Powell explained his reasons and in a company email shared with Reddit, we can read:

“On the 26th of November, all Monero (XMR) trading on Kraken will cease in the UK. This includes Instant Buy/Sell Services as well as order book trading on XMR/BTC, XMR/USD, and XMR/EUR.”

While the crypto community is often sympathetic and understanding of the situation faced by centralized exchanges, Powell felt that it was necessary to talk more about this situation. He said that the decision is most likely permanent until UK authorities learn more about the value behind Monero or even more effective surveillance tools are developed.

“I hate to turn away business but I don’t think we’ll be approved to support Monero again in the UK until the regulator better understands its value or feels like they have better surveillance tools.”

Powell added that Kraken continues to support Monero as well as other privacy coins in plenty of other jurisdictions. With that said, he called on the UK crypto community to support their local Parliamentary representative to voice their opinion on privacy coins and their treatment in the country. Privacy coins like Monero are most of the time vilified because cybercriminals use them as a means to launder money or evade taxes. But others see them as the last line of defense in protecting the personal data and privacy and those who hold the view often oppose centralized tech giants of being intrusive:

“They seem to dominate so much of the technology, push the limits of privacy and ultimately commoditize the ideas, thoughts, and actions of individuals.”