Privacy advocates scored a big win in June with Binance announcing that it was reversing its decision to delete privacy coins for users in a number of European countries.
As a result of the move, users in Italy, Poland, Spain and France will be allowed to continue trading tokens including Zcash (ZEC), Monero (XMR), Decred (DCR), Horizen’s ZEN, Verge (XVG), DASH (DASH) and Secret ( SCRT), Firo, Navcoin (NAV), MobileCoin (MOB), Beam, and PIVX.
Banning coins would have been a big deal, big mistake. Privacy coins empower individuals to monitor their finances by offering enhanced transaction security, and the crypto community should be thankful that Binance no longer plans to remove them from its listings. In the modern climate of excessive surveillance and a general lack of confidentiality for users everywhere, its importance cannot be overstated.
Related: Binance was wrong to run Monero, Zcash, and other privacy coins
The fungibility of these currencies, which makes each individual unit fungible and censorship-resistant, is an advantage they have over almost every other cryptocurrency, and losing these extra layers of security and anonymity would have been an incredible loss to society.
Privacy coins have gained traction in recent years due to the emergence of a series of harsh regulations. In fact, Binance’s decision follows the EU’s much-discussed standards for digital assets, and the recent Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulations. Having just signed this into law, July will also see the European Securities and Markets Authority launch the MiCA advisory process. It is fair to say that there is some movement in the space and we may not have seen the latest in store for the cryptocurrency industry in Europe.
But the truth is that privacy is a basic human right protected by the United Nations. Article 12 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights States that “no person shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy” and that “everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks”, so why should encryption be any different?
This concept is even more important in the digital age where the risks of data exploitation are increasing exponentially, and tech giants have all the tools at their disposal to try and prevent people from controlling their private information.
Indeed, Binance’s decision reflects the complex balance between regulatory compliance and user privacy needs that exchanges must strive to meet at all times, even as they face international regulations that vary from country to country, and even as some countries decide to impose stricter rules than others.
Related: The SEC accusations against Binance and Coinbase are terrible for DeFi
As for the future implications of Binance’s decision – but also those from the looming intense regulatory pressure in Europe – we can see a potential increase in demand, and thus the development of the privacy coin sector. Ironically, the precedent set by Binance may lead to wider acceptance of privacy coins, as it may prompt other exchanges to rethink their stance on privacy coins, which could lead to wider availability. we will see.
At the end of the day, this week’s news calls attention to the true power of community sentiment when it comes to shaping crypto policies and regulations. “We have revised how we rate privacy coins,” the cryptocurrency exchange’s official statement read, “after carefully considering feedback from our community.” Reading between the lines, what’s clear is the backlash they’ve received in the past month a job.
It’s hard to overstate how important privacy really is to the crypto industry, which is why we can’t hold back when it comes to fighting for it every chance we get.
In essence, the community’s influence on Binance’s decision demonstrates its ability to shape the future of the cryptocurrency industry – and it’s best not to forget that.
The crypto community must unite to keep fighting for privacy. It forms the basis of Web3. As the Romans said, There is always victory where there is agreement. There is always victory where there is unity.
Daniel Servadi He is the co-founder and CEO of Sellix, an e-commerce platform based in Italy.
This article is for general information purposes and is not intended and should not be considered legal or investment advice. The views, ideas and opinions expressed herein are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.