LocalMonero to shut down P2P exchange after seven years of operation

LocalMonero, a peer-to-peer crypto exchange for the Monero cryptocurrency, announced on Tuesday that it is winding down the platform after nearly seven years of operation due to “internal and external factors.” The platform did not provide specific reasons for the closure.

The platform offered users the ability to buy and sell Monero directly with other users, both in person and online. LocalMonero stated that the shutdown process, which began Tuesday, will be completed in six months, and new signups have already been disabled.

Trading on the platform will be unavailable from May 14, while the website will be discontinued in November.

Privacy coins, including Monero, which focus on providing user anonymity, have been delisted from several major centralized exchanges such as Kraken, OKX, and Binance over the past few years.

LocalMonero wrote in the statement that it expects the Monero ecosystem to continue expanding despite its own wind-down. “We’re confident that Monero’s future is bright, with or without our platform,” it said, highlighting upcoming launches of new Monero-focused DEXs and further privacy updates such as full-chain membership proofs as positive developments.

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This announcement comes a year after the P2P Bitcoin trading service LocalBitcoins announced its closure after a decade in operation.

The price of Monero (XMR) is down 0.66% in the last 24 hours to $129.34 at the time of publication, according to The Block’s price page .

LocalMonero did not immediately respond to The Block’s request for further comments.