Tornado Cash token falls 57% after Binance announces delisting

The governance token for crypto mixer Tornado Cash (TORN) has fallen by over 50% on Nov. 26-27, according to data from Coingecko. The crash came on the same day that crypto exchange Binance announced it was delisting the token.

Tornado Cash is a cryptocurrency mixing protocol. Its token, TORN, is used to vote on proposals for upgrading the protocol. On Nov. 26-27, the token took a nosedive, falling from $3.90 to just $1.66, a decline of 57%. The price decline happened as the world’s largest crypto exchange by volume, Binance, announced that it will stop accepting deposits of TORN on Dec. 8 and will no longer process withdrawals after March 7, 2024.

On Aug. 8, Tornado Cash was sanctioned by the United States Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) for allegedly facilitating money laundering. This legally barred U.S. residents from using the protocol.

Related: Blockchain Association files support in suit to lift Tornado Cash sanctions

Binance originally claimed that it did not allow U.S. residents to use its exchange. But on Nov. 21, the United States Department of Justice announced that it had reached a plea deal with Binance. As part of the deal, Binance admitted that it had served some U.S. customers without having a license to do business in the US.

In its announcement, Binance said it delisted TORN because the token no longer meets its standard for listable assets, based on a variety of factors. “At Binance, we periodically review each digital asset we list to ensure that it continues to meet the high level of standard we expect,” the Binance team stated. “When a coin or token no longer meets this standard, or the industry changes, we conduct a more in-depth review and potentially delist it.”