In a coordinated move reflecting a broader industry trend of market optimization, two major cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance and Coinone, have announced significant delistings affecting over 20 trading pairs. These strategic decisions are part of routine reviews aimed at maintaining high-quality, liquid trading environments.
Binance, the world's largest digital asset exchange, will delist 19 margin trading pairs on February 26, 2025, at 06:00 UTC. The affected pairs include ten cross margin and nine isolated margin instruments, with the POL/USDC pair appearing on both lists, signaling a complete removal of margin support for that pairing. Other notable pairs facing removal are ALCX/USDT, SAPIEN/USDC, PNUT/USDC, ARKM/USDC, BROCCOLI714/USDC, OPEN/USDC, CKB/USDC, HOLO/USDC, and FIL/BTC. The exchange has advised users to close any open positions in these pairs before the deadline to avoid automatic liquidation at potentially unfavorable prices. Importantly, the delisting applies only to margin trading; spot trading for these tokens remains available unless a separate announcement is made.
Maria Chen, a market analyst at CryptoMetrics, commented on the rationale, stating, "Exchanges must constantly optimize their markets. By pruning these pairs, Binance is effectively steering liquidity toward its core markets. This action typically strengthens price discovery and stability for the remaining, more popular pairs." The move is seen as a standard housekeeping measure, often triggered by factors like low liquidity, declining trading volume, or failure to meet the exchange's evolving listing standards.
Simultaneously, South Korea's Coinone exchange announced the delisting of the MilkyWay (MILK) token, effective March 27, 2025, at 06:00 UTC. The exchange will suspend MILK deposits 24 hours prior, on March 26. Following the trading halt, any remaining MILK balances will be automatically converted to Korean Won at the prevailing market rate. Coinone cited standard delisting procedures, which in South Korea's regulated environment are typically influenced by strict evaluation frameworks assessing trading volume, project development activity, and regulatory compliance.
The delisting occurs within South Korea's structured regulatory landscape overseen by the Financial Services Commission (FSC). Industry observers note that MILK had shown declining volume, reduced developer activity, and represented less than 0.1% of Coinone's total trading volume prior to the announcement. Professor Kim Jae-won of Seoul National University noted, "Regular asset reviews demonstrate market maturation. Exchanges must balance innovation with investor protection."
Both announcements underscore a maturing cryptocurrency market where exchanges are increasingly acting as curators, pruning underperforming assets to concentrate liquidity and mitigate risk, mirroring practices in traditional finance.
