Finland-based peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency platform LocalBitcoins will be closing down its base of operations after being active for reportedly over 10 years, as stated by Cointelegraph.
According to Cointelegraph, on February 9, 2023, LocalBitcoins revealed the concluding of its services on account of cryptocurrency winter implications. “Regardless of our efforts to overcome challenges and turn our trade volumes and declining market share back to growth, we have regretfully concluded that LocalBitcoins can no longer provide its Bitcoin trading service,” Nikolaus Kangas, CEO, LocalBitcoins, said.
On the basis of information by Cointelegraph, LocalBitcoins informed its users to extract crypto assets from the wallet, along with taking out Bitcoin from the LocalBitcoins wallet. Insights from the announcement mentioned that users will be permitted to withdraw crypto assets from LocalBitcoins for a year. It is believed that the platform will discontinue trading from February 16, 2023, onwards.
Moreover, Cointelegraph noted that the development happened after United States Financial Crimes Enforcement Network claimed that the platform had connections with Russian-linked exchange Bitzlato. “Based on our data there have practically been no transactions between LocalBitcoins and BitZlato since October 2022, after we stopped serving Russian user accounts and accounts of users residing in Russia,” Jukka Blomberg, chief marketing officer, LocalBitcoins, stated.
(With insights from Cointelegraph)