LocalBitcoins Crypto Exchange Officially Stops Its Services Due To Prolonged Bearish Market

The Local Bitcoins crypto exchange is officially closed. (Photo: Doc. Master The Crypto)

JAKARTA – Sad news came from the Bitcoin exchange platform, LocalBitcoins, which on Thursday announced the closure of its services. This platform has been in operation for ten years and is well-known to Bitcoin traders. This service will be closed due to the bad market conditions that are happening in the cryptocurrency environment.

The company said that the current market scenario does not support any recovery, and therefore the platform has decided to discontinue its services. Platform customers have 12 months to withdraw their funds from the wallet. This platform has a customer base of 8 million people spread across more than 190 countries.

The closure of LocalBitcoins has caused grief in the crypto community, as the platform is considered one of the oldest Bitcoin market platforms. However, this announcement shows how the current market conditions are affecting many aspects of the crypto world.

"Despite our efforts to overcome various challenges during the ongoing and very cold crypto winter, during which our volumes and market share continued to decline, it is with a heavy heart that we conclude that LocalBitcoins can no longer provide trading services," read the LocalBitcoins crypto exchange announcement.

According to the Coingape report, it says that LocalBitcoins is shutting down to eliminate operational risks in the current environment. LocalBitcoins was mentioned in a recent Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) report involving Bitzlato transactions.

In the FinCEN document, LocalBitcoins is named as one of Bitzlato's top three partners. The Bitcoin exchange platform is described as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) based or established in Finland, in the document.

As additional information, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is a federal government agency under the US Department of the Treasury that is responsible for protecting financial system stability and preventing money laundering and terrorism financing.

FinCEN receives, collects, and analyzes financial transaction reports and information to help promote regulatory compliance and assist with relevant legal investigations and actions.

Recently, FinCEN has also introduced a number of new regulations to address the problem of money laundering and financing of terrorism in the financial system. For example, they stated that they would strengthen oversight of virtual or cryptocurrency transactions to prevent money laundering practices from going undetected. This regulation is expected to help ensure the integrity of the financial system and promote a safer and more secure financial environment.