Peer-to-peer trading platform of privacy coins LocalMonero has ceased operations immediately following the recent arrests and closures of crypto privacy services.
Effective immediately, LocalMonero disabled all new registrations and advertisement postings for Monero transactions, the company announced on May 7. 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 debuted in 2017 and acknowledged that the Monero ecosystem has matured significantly.
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 “hugely tragic.” Additionally, he stated that LocalMonero has served as “a cornerstone of the no-KYC Monero ecosystem” and that, at present, 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. Seized on suspicion of money trafficking were the co-founders of Samourai Wallet, a cryptocurrency mixer, 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 that intelligence agencies might need to be more anti-privacy concerning 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.
