LocalMonero exchange closes as cryptocurrency privacy services decline
The peer-to-peer trading platform for privacy coin Monero (XMR) has shut down its services with immediate effect, adding to the latest wave of cryptocurrency privacy closures and arrests.
On May 7, LocalMonero announced that effective immediately, all new sign-ups and advertising postings for Monero transactions will be disabled. On May 14, the platform will disable trading of cryptocurrency assets with a focus on privacy.
The company cited a “combination of internal and external factors” but did not give a specific reason for the closure.
It added that the website will be shut down on November 7 and users will be advised to withdraw funds from their wallets before that date. Otherwise, the website may be considered abandoned.
Launched in 2017 as the XMR version of LocalBitcoins, the peer-to-peer Monero trading platform acknowledged that the Monero ecosystem has matured a lot over the years.
The team said the impending launch of decentralized exchanges like Haveno and Serai and the recently announced privacy update called Full-Chain Membership Proofs (FCMP) give them confidence that Monero has a bright future “with or without our platform.” added.
After Kraken stopped supporting Monero for Irish and Belgian customers in April and recently took legal action against Tornado Cash, some see the move as another blow to the privacy coin and protocol.
“What a sad day,” privacy advocate “Seth For Privacy” said of X’s May 7 post. He added that LocalMonero was a “cornerstone of the Monero ecosystem with no KYC” and no direct fiat currency. As an alternative to XMR today.
He said users can make guesses even if the platform doesn’t provide a reason.
“We now seem to be deep in the trenches of an all-out privacy cryptocurrency war.”
Related: Are your privacy tokens under attack? Aleph Zero co-founder explains.
Privacy coins and services have become a target of global financial regulators in recent months. Last April, the co-founders of cryptocurrency mixer Samourai Wallet were arrested on money laundering charges.
Other privacy services such as Wasabi CoinJoin and Trezor Coinjoin were also recently shut down by their founders as privacy crackdowns intensified.
But it might not be so clear. Ethereum privacy protocol Railgun contributor Alan Scott Jr. told Cointelegraph in early May that intelligence agencies may not be as privacy-preserving a protocol as many believe.
“Their concerns are potential problems that hinder our ability to catch bad actors,” he said at the time, referring to agencies like the FBI.
magazine: Tornado Cash 2.0: A race to build a safe and legal coin mixer
