LocalMonero closes P2P exchange after 7 years of operation
LocalMonero, a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchange for the Monero cryptocurrency, announced Tuesday that it is shutting down its platform after about seven years of operation due to “internal and external factors.” The platform did not specify the reason for the closure.
The platform gave users the ability to buy and sell Monero in person or directly with other users online. LocalMonero said the shutdown process, which began on Tuesday, will be completed within six months and that new sign-ups have already been disabled.
Trading on the platform will be unavailable from May 14, and the website will be shut down in November.
Privacy coins, including Monero, which focuses on providing user anonymity, have been delisted from several major centralized exchanges such as Kraken, OKX, and Binance over the past few years.
LocalMonero wrote in a statement that it expects the Monero ecosystem to continue to expand despite its own contraction. “We are confident that the future of Monero is bright, with or without the platform,” he said, highlighting the upcoming launch of a new Monero-centric DEX and additional privacy updates, such as full-chain proof of membership, as positive developments.
The announcement comes a year after LocalBitcoins, a peer-to-peer Bitcoin trading service, announced its closure after 10 years of operation.
According to The Block’s pricing page, the price of Monero (XMR) was down 0.66% in the last 24 hours to $129.34 at the time of publication.
LocalMonero did not immediately respond to The Block’s request for further comment.
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About the author
Danny Park is The Block’s East Asia reporter, writing about topics including Web3 development and cryptocurrency regulation in the region. He previously worked as a reporter for Forkast.News, where he actively covered the fall of Terra-Luna and FTX. Based in Seoul, Danny previously produced written and video content for media companies in Korea, Hong Kong and China. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Business Marketing from the University of Hong Kong.
