LocalBitcoins Users Remain Without Access To Their Tokens

Most of the LocalBitcoin users remain without access to their tokens, two weeks after the exchange suspended their accounts without a word. The account-holders said that they have been frustrated by the move which has brought their trading operations to a stop, as per the latest cryptocurrency news.

LocalBitcoins is based in Finland and is a platform where buyers and sellers can trade Bitcoin directly. It incorporates escrow for security and is also licensed by the Finnish regulator or the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority. The platform is available in more than 248 countries and generates revenues per year of 31 million USD. The company has more than 67 employees. Back in 2019, the exchange tightened its compliance requirements thus removing the ‘’in-cash’’ person option. despite that, however, the exchange suspended the accounts of many of the LocalBitcoins users without prior warning.

Customers in Africa have also been affected mainly those in Uganda and Nigeria. The account holders in Asia have also been affected including people from Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries in the Middle East. There were many users in the United Kingdom that were affected as well. The localbitcoins users have been asked to withdraw their bitcoin holdings and erase their accounts if they don’t want to wait for activation. Many say that they have been unable to take any action since their accounts have already been suspended with thousands of dollars worth of Bitcoin locked.

Rizwan Ali was one trader from Pakistan who was affected, he said:

 “It’s devastating. The exchange suddenly blocked our funds and suspended accounts without any warning. My 0.5 BTC is blocked, and I am waiting for it to be released. It’s been 14 days today since I made my account deletion request. There was no notice. They violated their own terms of service. I am sure what they are doing is illegal.”

Another localbitcoins user in Nigeria said that he was unable to access the account even after he received notifications about customers that want to sell him bitcoins:

 “One of my customers was due to travel out of the country and had to sell some of his bitcoin to be able to go – only to notice on his way to the airport that he could not even access his funds.”