Crypto exchange LocalCryptos shuts down operations as bear market prevails

Peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto exchange LocalCryptos has announced plans to exit the market after five years of operation, with the platform emerging as the latest casualty of the extended bear market. 

According to LocalCryptos, the planned shutdown of operations was voluntary, citing several reasons, including the general crypto market meltdown and the uncertainty around the regulatory space, the exchange said in a blog post published on October 21. 

Additionally, the exchange pointed out that ‘personal health matters impacting the development and progression of the marketplace’ contributed to the decision. 

“While any of these alone are not the sole reason, they are each motivating factors in our decision. We weighed up all the options, attempted various alternative solutions to keep the LocalCryptos vision alive, but in the end we made the decision to gradually end our services and recommend our users to other P2P platforms,” the platform said. 

Timeline for the exit 

Ahead of the exit, the platform will continue operations as usual until November 4. The exchange will also disable new account creation from there, but existing users will continue with normal operations.

Furthermore, from November 18, new trade creation will be disabled. Still, services around LocalCryptos non-custodial web wallet interface will continue while trades will be open after the date and can be completed normally. 

Notably, the exchange stated that the LocalCryptos website would remain online indefinitely for its wallet user interface. 

Interestingly, in the post, LocalCryptos called on its users to be wary of scammers who might take advantage of the situation to defraud unsuspecting victims. 

LocalCryptos adds 400,000 users in 5 years

​​The exchange began operations in October 2017 and has since garnered about 400,000 registered users. The platform initially focused solely on Ethereum (ETH) and later added support for non-custodial P2P trading for Bitcoin (BTC).

It is worth mentioning that the prevailing crypto bear market has forced several operators to exit the sector. For instance, crypto lending platform Celsius Network, Voyager Digital, and Three Arrows Capital filed for bankruptcy after halting operations.