A statement emerged amidst regulatory pressures on cryptocurrencies, causing a stir in the crypto world. The European branch of OKX, one of the world’s leading exchanges by volume, made a shocking decision regarding Tether (USDT).
OKX’s Critical Tether Decision
Recent research revealed that OKX has been gradually removing Tether’s trading pairs in the European Economic Area (EEA) amidst a series of events involving a comprehensive regulatory process for cryptocurrencies by the European Union (EU).
An email notification received by a European cryptocurrency investor indicated that OKX, ranked as the fourth largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, has removed support for USDT trading pairs.
This ban, set to be fully implemented within the EU borders by December 30, 2024, precedes the planned application of MiCA, highlighting the seriousness with which exchanges are taking the situation. Following the regulation, the use of certain stablecoins will be restricted in the EU region.
A support representative from OKX stated on Monday that Tether was no longer available in the European Economic Area as of March 14. However, a look at OKX’s official website showed that USDT trading pairs were still available in the EEA as of March 15.
The email sent by OKX regarding the delisting did not directly point to MiCA but contained the following statement:
Please remember that due to regulatory requirements, not all tokens are available in all markets.
Current Bitcoin Situation
While all this was happening with Tether, attention throughout the day was on Bitcoin. The price of BTC was trading at $67,691 at the time of writing, which represented a 1% decrease from its price the previous day.
As the BTC price fell, this was also reflected in the market cap, which dropped to $1.32 trillion, and if the price continues to fall, BTC’s market cap could drop below $1.3 trillion again.
On the other hand, the meme coin frenzy that has been ongoing for days on the Solana (SOL) network has also led to a decrease in interest in Bitcoin. Bitcoin’s (BTC) 24-hour trading volume fell by 17.6% to $45.2 billion.
