LocalBitcoins Shuts Down after a Decade, Cites ‘Very Cold Crypto Winter’

LocalBitcoins, a Finland-based peer-to-peer (P2P) Bitcoin (BTC) exchange founded in June 2012, has announced the timeline for the closure of its Bitcoin trading services. The exchange announced the development on Thursday in a statement on its website.

The operator noted that LocalBitcoins can no longer provide its BTC trading services as its efforts to weather “the ongoing very crypto winter” has been futile. The announcement comes after a chaotic 2022 saw the crypto industry battle with the collapse of several crypto projects, including the once-leading Bahamas-based crypto exchange, FTX.

Due to a prolonged crypto winter or sustained declining prices of digital assets and other factors, the market capitalization of the cryptocurrency industry collapsed, dropping by 64.1% from $2.3 trillion at the start of last year to $829 billion by year-end.

“We are sad to share that regardless of our efforts to overcome challenges during the ongoing very cold crypto winter, we have regretfully concluded that LocalBitcoins can no longer provide its Bitcoin trading service,” LocalBitcoins announced.

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Data from CoinDance shows that LocalBitcoins has been generating between $5 million to $10 million in weekly volumes in the past few months, which is in sharp contrast to its peak periods in 2017 when it generated over $100 million weekly in trading volumes.

LocalBitcoins Gives 12 Months Withdrawal Period

In preparation for its closure, LocalBitcoins has encouraged all its customers to withdraw their funds on its platform within the next 12 months or earlier. This is even as P2P BTC exchange announced the suspension of new signs up on its platform on Thursday.

Furthermore, the company noted that it will halt BTC trading on its platform on the 16th of this month and bar the use of the platform’s wallets on the same day. However, the wallets will be available for the withdrawal of funds, LocalBitcoins said.

In addition, starting from 17th January 2023, LocalBitcoins' customers will only be able to login into the platform to withdraw their Bitcoins as the trading and wallet services will no longer be available from the same date.

Meanwhile, Finance Magnates reported in 2021 that Venezuelan authorities detained two scammers over their alleged involvement in a $136,000 scam committed through LocalBitcoins.