Binance Delists USDT Spot Pairs in Europe: Here’s Why

The Leading Exchange’s Big Move: Binance Delists USDT Spot Pairs in Europe

In order to adhere to the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), Binance has stopped trading spot pairs with Tether’s USDt in the European Economic Area (EEA). In accordance with a strategy revealed in early March, cryptocurrency exchange Binance has delisted spot trading pairs with several non-MiCA-compliant assets in the EEA. Users in the EEA can still hold and trade the impacted tokens in perpetual contracts, even if Binance has delisted spot trading pairs in tokens like USDt. Among other non-MiCA-compliant tokens, Binance has also delisted the following spot trading pairs:

• Dai
• First Digital USD
• TrueUSD
• Pax Dollar
• Anchored Euro (AEUR)
• TerraUSD (UST)
• TerraClassicUSD
• PAX Gold

Crypto Exchanges Follow Binance in Delisting USDT for EEA Spot Trading

Other cryptocurrency exchanges are also delisting non-MiCA-compliant tokens for EEA spot trading, in addition to Binance. Other exchanges, like Kraken, announced plans in February to delist spot trading pairings in tokens like USDT in the EEA.

The exchange banned USDT for sell-only mode in the EEA on March 24, per a message on the Kraken website. As of this writing, the platform prohibits EEA users from purchasing the impacted tokens. Only five tokens—USDT, PayPal USD, Tether EURt (EURT), TrueUSD, and TerraClassicUSD—were on Kraken’s EEA delisting roadmap.

MiCA Compliance Confusion: European Regulators Send Mixed Signals on Stablecoins

In accordance with a prior message from MiCA compliance supervisors, Binance and Kraken have decided to continue providing custody services for tokens that do not comply with MiCA. A representative for ESMA stated on March 5 that the new European cryptocurrency regulations do not infringe upon custody and transfer services for stablecoins that do not comply with MiCA.

However, the same authority had earlier instructed European crypto asset service providers to halt all transactions involving the impacted coins after March 31. This has increased the degree of ambiguity surrounding the precise MiCA requirements.

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