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Amid yet another phase of regulatory attacks on privacy instruments in crypto, the oldest and most credible peer-to-peer exchange for Monero (XMR), the largest privacy coin, has stopped accepting new deposits and sign-ups.
Largest XMR exchange platform LocalMonero ceases operations
According to the official team's statement, LocalMonero, a peer-to-peer trading platform that allowed exchanging XMR with fiat currency, is ceasing operations. New sign-ups and order postings are already disabled, while the entire procedure of winding down the service will take six months.
Hey everyone,
— LocalMonero (@LocalMoneroCo) May 7, 2024
After almost 7 years of operation, we have made the difficult decision to close our platform.
The winding-down process begins today, and finishes 6 months from now. Our support will be available for help throughout this period.
Read more:https://t.co/66gqe5HFpc
On May 14, 2024, new trades for existing accounts will be disabled as well, while the website will be terminated on Nov. 7. All trades and disputes should be finalized prior to that date.
The difficult decision was made due to a combination of internal and external factors, the team admitted. LocalMonero was the dominant marketplace for XMR for almost seven years.
Also, Monero (XMR) enthusiasts noted that Kraken, the largest CEX when XMR was still available in USDT, USD, BTC and EUR pairs, restricted access to trading for customers from Germany, Ireland and Belgium.
Incredibly sad day, LocalMonero has been a cornerstone of the no-KYC Monero ecosystem and has no direct fiat -> XMR alternative today.
— Seth For Privacy | #FreeSamourai (@sethforprivacy) May 7, 2024
This news makes it all the more pressing to have good, decentralized BTC <> XMR ramps like @SeraiDEX and @HavenoDEX ASAP.
So grateful for all… https://t.co/cos2NCsSl6
Both the LocalMonero team and XMR community members stress the paramount importance of new decentralized solutions for XMR/BTC trading. Yet-to-be-launched services Haveno and Serai are called among the most promising options.
XMR price remains almost unaffected by announcement
It should be noted that the decision by the LocalMonero team to stop operations follows an array of anti-privacy actions by regulators.
As covered by U.Today previously, Wasabi Wallet stops operating, effective in June. It was known thanks to its privacy function, CoinJoin, that obfuscated cryptocurrency data.
The crypto community is shaken by the decision of LocalMonero. However, the XMR price looks almost stable despite a dramatic announcement.
So far, XMR is only down 2.9%, which is exactly the market benchmark for the last 24 hours. Monero (XMR) is trading at $128 on spot crypto exchanges.