Binance's Potential Zcash Delisting Met With Dismay From Industry Heavyweights

The token appeared on a Binance delisting list alongside FTX's FTT token.

Updated Apr 15, 2025, 3:16 p.m. Published Apr 15, 2025, 3:15 p.m.

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has been criticized this week for including privacy token Zcash (ZEC) among those cryptos up for a vote to be delisted from the exchange.

Zcash, which has a $500 million market cap, appeared on the ballot alongside FTX's FTT token and data security platform JASMY.

Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox tagged Binance CEO Richard Teng in a tweet on Tuesday: "You’re considering delisting Zcash!? What kind of world are you creating? Do you want your children to grow up in peace and prosperity, or a Black Mirror episode?"

Digital Currency Group founder Barry Silbert also shared several posts lamenting Binance's decision to include Zcash on the list.

The sentiment was also echoed by Ledger CTO Charles Guillemet and Cosmos co-foudner Ethan Buchman, both of whom highlighted the importance of privacy.

From Binance's point of view, privacy tokens have long since been a topic of discussion among financial regulators. In 2022 a leaked EU document suggested that privacy tokens could be banned across the region.

Privacy protocol Tornado Cash was also sanctioned by the U.S. amid concerns of criminality, although these sanctions were removed last month.

ZEC is currently trading at $31.26 having dropped by 3.1% over the past 24 hours.

Oliver Knight

Oliver Knight is the co-leader of CoinDesk data tokens and data team. Before joining CoinDesk in 2022 Oliver spent three years as the chief reporter at Coin Rivet. He first started investing in bitcoin in 2013 and spent a period of his career working at a market making firm in the UK. He does not currently have any crypto holdings.