Why Privacy Coins Are Being Delisted From Crypto Exchanges in 2025

Key Takeaways

• 73 exchanges removed privacy‑focused tokens in 2025, a 43% jump from 2023.
• Regulatory pressure - chiefly FATF’s Travel Rule extension and the EU’s MiCA - is the main driver.
• Monero, Zcash, Dash, Haven, BitTube and PIVX account for over 11% of global crypto transaction volume.
• Despite delistings, privacy‑coin prices surged 71.6% in 2025, fueled by limited supply on major platforms.
• Users are migrating to DEXs, peer‑to‑peer services like LocalMonero, and upcoming hybrid‑privacy solutions.

What Exactly Is a Privacy Coin?

Privacy coin is a type of cryptocurrency designed to hide transaction details such as sender, receiver and amount. Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, which publish every address and value on a public ledger, privacy coins employ cryptographic tricks to make tracing practically impossible.

Three technical families dominate the space:

• Monero (XMR) uses ring signatures and stealth addresses to blend each transaction with dozens of others.
• Zcash (ZEC) relies on zero‑knowledge proofs (zk‑SNARKs) that validate a transfer without revealing any data.
• Dash offers an optional PrivateSend feature that mixes coins before they are sent.

These privacy layers protect users in authoritarian regimes and shield business transactions from competitors, but they also frustrate regulators who must verify that funds are not tied to illicit activity.

Regulatory Forces Behind the Delisting Wave

The surge of exchange delistings is not random; it follows a clear regulatory timeline.

1. June2024 - The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) issued new guidance extending the Travel Rule to cover 57% of privacy‑coin transactions. The rule demands that exchanges collect and share customer data for transfers above a set threshold.
2. July2024 - The European Union adopted the Markets in Crypto‑Assets (MiCA) regulation, imposing strict transparency and AML obligations on all crypto services operating in the bloc.
3. 2025 - More than 90 countries tightened AML/CTF frameworks, with 97 jurisdictions publishing explicit bans or heavy‑handed monitoring requirements for privacy‑focused assets.

Because the core cryptography of privacy coins deliberately prevents the collection of sender‑or‑receiver data, complying with FATF’s Travel Rule becomes technically impossible without redesigning the protocols. Exchanges therefore choose to remove the tokens rather than risk fines or license revocations.

Which Exchanges Dropped Which Coins?

Below is a snapshot of major platforms and the privacy assets they pulled in 2025.

Notice that while centralized exchanges are pulling the plug, peer‑to‑peer services and a handful of Swiss or Liechtenstein platforms continue offering limited trading under strict KYC/AML regimes.

Market Impact: Prices, Volume, and User Behaviour

Even as exchanges stripped privacy coins from their order books, the sector posted a 71.6% price increase in 2025. The paradox is explained by three forces:

• Supply shock: With fewer listings, on‑exchange liquidity shrank, pushing prices up on the remaining venues.
• Institutional curiosity: Asset‑management firms see value in the anonymity layer for confidential intra‑firm transfers, prompting private purchases.
• Community resilience: Reddit and Telegram groups rallied around DEXs and atomic swaps, keeping demand alive.

However, Zcash reported an 8% dip in shielded addresses, reflecting that strict KYC enforcement can still deter usage. Overall transaction volume migrated toward decentralized platforms, with LocalMonero noting a 19% activity bump shortly after the February Binance delisting.

How Users Can Adapt: Decentralized & Peer‑to‑Peer Options

If you hold a privacy coin and your favorite exchange no longer supports it, you have three practical paths:

1. Move to a reputable DEX. Uniswap v4, SushiSwap and PancakeSwap now list wrapped versions of Monero and Zcash via cross‑chain bridges. While you sacrifice native privacy on the DEX layer, you retain the underlying token’s anonymity.
2. Use peer‑to‑peer marketplaces. Services such as LocalMonero let you trade directly with escrow‑backed contracts, avoiding any custodial hand.
3. Store off‑chain. Hardware wallets (Ledger, Trezor) support XMR and ZEC natively. By keeping the coins in a non‑custodial wallet, you sidestep exchange restrictions altogether.

Whichever route you pick, always double‑check the KYC/AML policy of the platform. Some DEX aggregators now require identity verification for swaps exceeding $10,000 to stay compliant with FATF guidance.

Future Outlook: Balancing Privacy and Compliance

Developers aren’t standing still. Two trends are shaping the next generation of privacy coins:

• Selective disclosure protocols. New zero‑knowledge constructions (e.g., zk‑STARKs with built‑in audit trails) allow a transaction to be verified by regulators while keeping amounts hidden from the public.
• Hybrid token models. Projects are launching “privacy‑on‑demand” features where users can toggle shielded mode per transaction, satisfying both privacy lovers and compliance officers.

According to a recent survey, 74% of privacy‑coin developers cite FATF regulations as their biggest technical hurdle. If these hybrid solutions gain traction, we might see a slowdown in delistings after 2027, when the EU’s anti‑money‑laundering directive fully takes effect.

Until then, the market will likely stay split: regions like Switzerland and Liechtenstein will act as sandbox havens, while jurisdictions such as Japan, South Korea and the EU push for outright bans.