One of the oldest Bitcoin exchanges, LocalBitcoins, located in Finland, announced on Monday that it was permanently ceasing business in the cryptocurrency market. Due to its incapacity to endure and overcome the difficulties of current crypto-winter, LocalBitcoins will end its 10-year-old Bitcoin trading business.
Significantly, all Bitcoin wallet and trading services will be discontinued on February 16 to signal its departure from the cryptocurrency industry.
LocalBitcoins has carried out its objective to “bring Bitcoin everywhere” since its founding in 2012. By thanking their clients on Twitter, LocalBitcoins outlined the policies and procedures pertaining to the withdrawal of funds.
Several ancient Bitcoin exchanges from the past kept records of the various reasons they closed. Notably, security flaws caused MtGox, the first Bitcoin exchange, to shut down tragically in 2014. The 12-year-old Virtual World Exchange (VirWoX), a competitor of MtGox, shut down by 2020 owing to regulatory restrictions.
Similar problems with operations and regulations led to TradeHill’s closure as a bitcoin exchange. LocalBitcoins has closed due to declining exchange volumes and market share during the bitcoin winter.