On Tuesday, Israel-based crypto trading platform eToro announced that it will restrict access to Cardano (ADA) and Tron (TRX) users in the United States.
eToro in its announcement said:
“US users will not be able to open new ADA or TRX positions starting on December 26, 2021. Additionally, staking for those assets will end on December 31, 2021.”
The announcement made the prices of both ADA and TRX to drop considerably. ADA was the most affected dropping by 5.4% in the last 24 hours while TRX dropped by 2.5%.
Plan to delist ADA and TRX from eToro
At the moment eToro only plans to restrict the opening of new positions. That means that US users who hold positions will continue to hold the same and can also sell the assets on the platform for USD.
eToro also plans to restrict the selling of the two coins in the first quarter of 2022 after which it shall completely delist the coins.
The reason for the changes according to the announcement was because of the regulatory measures targeting the crypto evolution in the business world.
The current restrictions on ADA and TRX will however only apply to the US.
eToro is not the first crypto exchange to delist a crypto coin. XRP which has been at loggerheads with the Securities Exchange Commission of the US was delisted by several exchanges including Coinbase last year.
According to Ben Casein, Head of Research & Strategy at crypto exchange AAX:
“As the crypto industry grows in both size, sophistication, and impact, regulatory pressure on the altcoin space is likely to keep increasing, especially given [SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s] recent comments around the probability that certain tokens and base-layer tokens may be deemed securities,”
On the issue of eToro delisting the two coins in question, Caselin said that the reasons may vary although it is understandable since eToro is a regulated brokerage platform that serves the US market.