The U.S. exchange Bitfront, owned by Japan s messaging service Line, is closing down in a move that is apparently unrelated to the recent FTX collapse, citing its desire to work on other projects. The company suspended all new credit card payments on Monday after saying it was not tied to certain exchanges that have been accused of misconduct. Learn how smart money is playing the game of criptocurrency.
The company said on Sunday that they regrettably determined that they need to shut down Bitfront in order to continue growing the LineBlockchain ecosystem and Link token economy.
Line will suspend all trades, U.S. dollar deposits, and cancel all open orders beginning in December. The company will stop all withdrawals on its platforms by March 31, 2023.
The company will delete all personal user data stored by Bitfront for legal purposes after withdrawals are stopped on its platform on March 31, 2023, though it may retain some information for legal purposes.
It is not clear how many U.S. customers will be affected, as the company was not allowed to operate in California, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
Since 2020, Bitfront has been active in the U.S.
The genesis of the Line's exchange stems back to 2018, when the company introduced a digital currency called Bitbox in Singapore, followed by Bitmax in 2019 and finally Bitfront in 2020 in the U.S. The company released its own digital currency, Link.