LocalMonero, a prominent peer-to-peer trading platform for Monero (XMR), announced its closure effective May 7, 2024. The decision, influenced by a combination of internal and external factors, marks the end of a seven-year journey for the platform that has served as a cornerstone of the Monero community.
TLDR
- LocalMonero, a peer-to-peer trading platform for Monero (XMR), has announced its closure effective May 7, 2024, citing internal and external factors.
- The platform will disable new signups and ad postings immediately, halt trading by May 14, and completely shut down by November 7.
- Despite the closure, the LocalMonero team remains optimistic about Monero’s future, pointing to upcoming decentralized exchanges and privacy updates.
- The closure is seen as another setback for privacy coins and services, following Kraken’s termination of Monero support and legal actions against privacy-centric projects.
- Monero (XMR) continues to trade at around $129.08, showing resilience amidst the challenges faced by privacy-focused crypto services.
The closure of LocalMonero is not an abrupt event but rather a carefully planned six-month winding-down process. As of May 7, all new signups and ad postings have been disabled, and new trades will be halted from May 14.
The platform will be completely taken down on November 7, giving users ample time to finalize or cancel their trades and reclaim any funds from their arbitration bond wallet.
Despite the closure, the LocalMonero team remains optimistic about the future of Monero.
They have expressed confidence in the upcoming launch of decentralized exchanges like Haveno and Serai, as well as the addition of Full Blockchain Anonymity Set Replacing Rings of 16 (FCMP) and the ongoing rapid development of the Monero protocol.
This optimism reflects the resilience and adaptability of the Monero community in the face of adversity.
Privacy Coins Under Scrutiny
The closure of LocalMonero is not an isolated event but rather part of a broader trend of challenges faced by privacy-focused crypto services.
In recent months, regulatory pressures have intensified, with Kraken terminating Monero support for customers in Ireland and Belgium and legal actions being taken against privacy-centric projects like Tornado Cash.
The crackdown on privacy coins and services has also led to the shuttering of other platforms like Wasabi CoinJoin and Trezor Coinjoin.
Monero’s Resilience
Despite the setbacks faced by privacy coins and services, Monero (XMR) has shown remarkable resilience. At the time of writing, XMR trades at around $129.08, with a 1% daily drop.
While the privacy coin is still 75% below its all-time high of $517.62, it has achieved an impressive 60383.51% increase from its all-time low.
