Japanese messaging giant Line-owned crypto exchange Bitfront has halted its exchange operations. However, it will still continue to support its blockchain ecosystem and the Link token.
In response to the impending crypto winter, the Japanese messaging giant Line has chosen to shut down its cryptocurrency trading operation.
Bitfront, a line-owned cryptocurrency exchange, declared on November 27 its intention to totally shut down the site by March 2023.
According to the statement, the shutdown was precipitated by the ongoing bear market in cryptocurrencies and other problems in the crypto business.
Despite the closing of the exchange, Line will continue to operate its other blockchain endeavors, including the Line blockchain ecosystem and Link (LN) token, according to an announcement:
“Despite our efforts to overcome the challenges in this rapidly-evolving industry, we have regretfully determined that we need to shut down Bitfront in order to continue growing the Line blockchain ecosystem and Link token economy.”
Bitfront further highlighted that the decision to shut the exchange was taken in the “greatest interest” of the Line ecosystem and had nothing to do with the FTX exchange’s current issue.
According to the release, Bitfront will discontinue its services gradually, halting signups and credit card payments on November 28. By mid-December, the platform intends to cease new deposits and interest payments of LN interest products and initiate the corresponding LN withdrawals.
Bitfront plans to cease all cryptocurrency and fiat deposits by the end of December, as well as suspend trading and cancel any existing orders. The complete ban on withdrawals is slated on March 31, 2023, clients will still be able to collect their assets in several U.S. jurisdictions.
As was previously reported, Line established its own cryptocurrency exchange in Singapore in 2018. Known initially as BitBox, the firm changed its name to Bitfront in February 2020 and relocated to the United States. In recent years, the exchange has scaled down a portion of its activities and will cease providing services in South Korea in August 2021.
Despite being a tiny cryptocurrency exchange at the time of writing, Bitfront enjoys large trade volumes. According to CoinGecko statistics, Bitfront’s daily trading volume is $55 million, and the exchange trades five cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin BTC, Ether, Link, Litecoin, and Tether.
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