Peer-to-peer trading platform for privacy coin Monero has shut down its services effective immediately, adding to recent crypto closures.
Monero, a platform for peer-to-peer trading of privacy coins, has ceased operations immediately following the recent arrests and closures of crypto privacy services.
LocalMonero announced on May 7 that, effective immediately, all advertisements and new registrations for Monero transactions are disabled. The platform will turn off trading of the privacy-focused cryptocurrency asset on May 14.
The company described its closure as “a result of a combination of internal and external factors” but declined to disclose the precise motives.
It further stated that the website will be offline on November 7 and instructed users to retrieve any funds from their wallets before that time; failure to do so may result in the funds being deemed abandoned.
As the XMR equivalent of LocalBitcoins, the P2P Monero transaction platform, which debuted in 2017, it was acknowledged that the Monero ecosystem has matured significantly over time.
Full-Chain Membership Proofs (FCMPs), a recently announced privacy update, and the impending launch of decentralized exchanges such as Haveno and Serai instill confidence in the team that Monero has a promising future “with or without our platform.”
Some have interpreted the action as an additional setback for privacy currencies and protocols in light of Kraken’s April decision to discontinue support for Monero for its Irish and Belgian customers and the recent legal action against Tornado Cash.
On May 7, the privacy advocate “Seth For Privacy” wrote on X that the day was “incredibly sad day,” Additionally, he stated that LocalMonero has served as “a cornerstone of the no-KYC Monero ecosystem” and that there is no direct fiat to XMR substitute.
While the platform did not specify the reason, he stated that users were free to speculate.
“Feels like we’re deep in the trenches of an all-out anti-privacy crypto war right now.”
Privacy currencies and services have been the focus of attention from global finance regulators in recent months. A pair of cryptocurrency aggregator Samourai Wallet co-founders were apprehended on suspicion of money laundering in April.
The founders of additional privacy services, including Wasabi CoinJoin and Trezor Coinjoin, recently ceased operations in response to heightened privacy enforcement.
However, the situation may not be so straightforward. Ethereum protocol for privacy Early in May, Railgun contributor Alan Scott Jr. stated to Cointelegraph that intelligence agencies might not be as resistant to privacy protocols as is commonly believed.
“Their concern is potential obstacles that could impede their ability to apprehend bad actors,” he said at the time, referring to FBI-like organizations.