Cryptocurrency exchange OKX has ended support for crypto trading pairs with Tether’s USDT stablecoin for users based in the European Union and European Economic Area (EEA), the exchange confirmed to CoinDesk. .
As of Monday, OKX's platform only offers spot crypto trading on USDC and EUR pairs, and USDT can only be traded against USDC and EUR, CoinDesk confirmed via an EU-based OKX account. did.
This change appeared earlier in the day after the trader went with X. Posted A note about changes from customer support citing regulatory compliance and platform security.
However, an OKX spokesperson said the move was prompted by OKX's decision to prioritize intra-regional euro-denominated liquidity.
“Our focus this year is to expand the liquidity of the euro pair and make it the preferred venue for euro-to-crypto spot trading,” the exchange said in a statement. “We have evaluated this decision and believe that the delisting of the current USDT pair will only impact a small portion of our user base. Importantly, we have recently By introducing this, we have expanded our product offering in the EEA.”
USDT will continue to be available on the platform to EEA-based users and can be deposited and withdrawn, bought and sold, and redeemed for cash in over-the-counter (OTC) transactions, the exchange representative added.
Tether has not yet commented.
At $100 billion, USDT is the largest stablecoin by trading volume, the key infrastructure for cryptocurrency trading on centralized exchanges, and the most liquid trading for Bitcoin (BTC) and other crypto assets. A pair.
The crypto exchange's actions raise regional regulatory headwinds for the world's most popular stablecoin, as the EU is poised to bring into force a comprehensive digital asset regulatory framework called MiCA later this year. It may be an omen.
Under the new rules, stablecoin issuers will need to be regulated as e-money institutions, Monerium co-founder and chairman Jón Egilsson explained in a CoinDesk article. Many of the stablecoins currently offered in Europe are therefore illegal as they are not authorized and regulated as electronic money transmitters, he added.
Circle, issuer of the second-largest stablecoin USDC and euro-pegged token EURC, has obtained conditional registration for digital asset services in France and applied for an e-money institution license in the EU
