LINE’s Cryptocurrency Exchange Bitbox to Delist XRP Trading Pairs

Bitbox Cryptocurrency exchange owned by the Japanese messaging giant, LINE, recently announced plans to delist the XRP token and its trading pairs. While the planned action comes as a shock to the XRP and Ripple community, the XRP token, compared to other altcoins, has enjoyed a price surge since the beginning of the year.

Bitbox Removes XRP and its Trading Pairs

Per an announcement on its website on Monday, January 6, 2020, Bitbox crypto exchange stated plans to delist the third-largest crypto token by market capitalization, XRP, along with its trading pairs. The token pairs trading with XRP includes Bitcoin (BTC) Ether (ETH) and Tether (USDT).

Although there was no specific reason why the crypto exchange platform was delisting XRP, It, however, appears the token no longer met the platform’s listing requirement. Part of the statement reads:

“We keep a constant watch on all coins that are being traded on BITBOX. If a coin does not meet our standards based on its performance, reliability, liquidity, or law and regulatory requirements, it will be delisted from our exchange. To protect your assets and interests, we provide sufficient notice before delisting”.

Consequently, Bitbox gave users until February 16, 2020, to withdraw their holdings from the platform. The XRP coin and its trading pairs will be officially delisted from the crypto exchange platform on January 16, 2020, during the platform will automatically cancel unfiled XRP orders.

Furthermore, Bitbox warned users that the ability to withdraw XRP tokens on the exchange platform will be revoked after the one month grace period elapses.

XRP Army Unconcerned

The planned action by Bitbox may well be a dent for Ripple and XRP, considering the level of popularity that the pair enjoy in the Asian market scene. On the other hand, the year seemed to have started well for XRP, as the token experienced a price surge to $0.22 per coin, as against $0.19 per coin a week before.

However, the news of the planned delisting does not seem to shake XRP lovers, with some commenters on Twitter believing that the XRP token could get listed on bigger virtual currency exchanges.

LINE launched the Bitbox digital currency exchange back in 2018 to offer crypto-crypto trading services to LINE’s over 80 million users. According to a report by BTCManager in June 2019, the Japanese messaging app was set to receive a license to launch another crypto exchange platform, Bitmax, from Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA).

In September 2019, the Bitmax trading platform officially launched, with the new platform supporting digital tokens such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and XRP.