LocalMonero Announces 6-Month Shutdown Plan

LocalMonero, the peer-to-peer exchange platform for the privacy-focused cryptocurrency Monero (XMR), will be shutting down it’s services after nearly seven years of operation.

As per LocalMonero’s announcement, the crypto exchange will be winding down operations over the next 6 months before permanently closing on November 7, 2024. The team expressed gratitude for the community’s support over the years and assured users that support staff would remain available throughout the transition period.

 LocalMonero was one of the earliest platforms dedicated to Monero, the leading privacy cryptocurrency that obfuscates transaction details to protect user anonymity. The exchange allowed buyers and sellers to meet and trade Monero directly through an escrow system. Users could trade their XMR without the need for centralized exchanges. The service prided itself on its commitment to privacy, a core tenet of the Monero community.

Despite LocalMonero’s closure, the team expressed optimism about Monero’s future, stating “with the imminent launch of Haveno and other DEXs like Serai, atomic swaps, the coming addition of FCMP…as well as the continuing and rapidly accelerating development of the Monero protocol, we’re confident that Monero’s future is bright.”

FCMP, or Full Compact Merkle Path, is an upcoming upgrade that will increase Monero’s default anonymity set to include the entire blockchain, replacing the current “ring” signatures of 16 decoys.

For longtime LocalMonero users, the exchange has outlined clear steps for finalizing trades and recovering funds before the November 7th shutdown date. New signups and trade postings have already been disabled, with new trades being blocked after May 14th.