By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 24th, 2024
In its delisting announcement, Binance.US said it would remove TRON’s TRX from its trading platform on April 18th.
TRON‘s native TRX coin recently shed 6.4% following delisting from Binance.US amid a regulatory lawsuit against founder Justin Sun. Weeks ago, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Sun over allegations that he sold and airdropped unregistered securities. The regulatory agency also accuses the popular crypto entrepreneur of fraud and market manipulation involving the TRX coin.
Binance.US followed up the TRX delisting announcement with a statement that read:
“We periodically review each digital asset we list to ensure that it continues to meet the standard of excellence we expect. We operate in a rapidly evolving industry and our digital asset monitoring process is designed to be responsive to market and regulatory developments.”
Furthermore, the US arm of the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume also added:
“When a digital asset no longer meets our high standards, or industry circumstances change, we conduct a more in-depth review of the affected asset and assess whether further action is necessary (i.e., delisting).”
According to Binance.US, trading for TRX ends on Tuesday, April 18th.
Binance.US Lists Likely Causative Factors for TRX Delisting
Although Binance.US did not specify what led to the TRX delisting, the American-based exchange listed several influencing factors. These include changes in a digital asset token’s risk profile, trading volume, and liquidity. Furthermore, the exchange cited US regulatory standing, community engagement levels, and evidence of unethical/fraudulent conduct or negligence.
Following its decision to delist TRX, Binance.US also highlighted noteworthy information for investors regarding deposits, withdrawals, and staking. The exchange said it would close SPELL and TRX deposits on April 17th while withdrawals remain open. Furthermore, Binance.US plans to disable TRX staking tomorrow and remove the token from the staking page on April 14th.
Despite these changes, Binance.US pledged to continue supporting TRC-20 USDT and USDC issued on the TRON network.
A TRON spokesperson said the decentralized platform is communicating with Binance.US over the delisting development. However, the spokesperson refrained from providing additional information.
Sun Downplays Delisting amid SEC Lawsuit for Market Manipulation
In a text message to Reuters, Sun explained that the impact of Binance.US delisting TRX would be “relatively small.” According to the TRON founder, “Binance.US trading volume is less than $1 million per day. TRX’s current trading volume is $400 million.”
The crypto entrepreneur faces an SEC lawsuit but previously said that the US regulator’s complaint lacks merit. In addition, Sun stated that the SEC’s digital assets’ regulatory framework “is still in its infancy” and needs further development.
On March 22nd, the SEC alleged that Sun instituted an “extensive wash trading” program to increase TRX and BitTorrent (BTT) trading volumes. Furthermore, the Commission sued American celebrities Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul, Akon, Ne-Yo, Soulja Boy, Lil Yachty, and Michele Mason for infractions. According to the SEC, these celebrities illegally touted charges for their roles and promoted TRX and BTT without revealing they were paid. Nonetheless, the majority of the accused stars settled the charges.