Bitfront Crypto Exchange shuts down while crypto winter contagion grows

Just a day after BlockFi filed for bankruptcy another centralized Crypto platform has bid us farewell. Bitfront, a US based global digital currency exchange halted operations and is shutting down. This makes Bitfront the latest casualty during this crypto winter. After the FTX fiasco the contagion is spreading into other players of the industry.

Bitfront is a small and relatively unknown platform that is backed by the Japanese social media company LINE. The digital assets exchange was aimed to serve as the main platform for LINE's foray into the blockchain business. LINE related blockchain tokens include LINK the main coin of the chain.

I tried to look a little bit more into Bitfront but their social media footprint has been minimal. The platform hasn't posted anything on Twitter for more than 2 years now. What I could find is that Bitfront first launched during the 2018 bear market as Bitbox and it was Singapore based before rebranding into Bitfront and moving its operations to the US in 2020. When visiting their website Bitfront.me a pop up message greets you with the information that the exchange is closing.

Reading the company's official communique they have suspended all new sign ups and they credit card payments starting effectively from November 28th. Full withdrawal suspension will take place on March 31st. Crypto and USD deposits, and trading will be suspended by December 30. Existing customers will have the ability to withdraw their assets until March 31st 2023. This seems like an orderly shut down of operations in order to avoid another crypto crash that apart from the exchange would also have higher implications and could irrecoverably damage the LINE Blockchain ecosystem and LINK.

One thing is certain. The best you can do now is take your assets out of centralized platforms and into your own wallets.

Better be safe than on the receiving end of another crypto company going bust. Not your keys, not your crypto.