Japan’s LINE Shuts Down Crypto Exchange Bitfront, Cites Industry Challenges

Bitfront will suspend all withdrawals on March 31, 2023.

Japanese messaging giant LINE has decided to shut down its Bitfront cryptocurrency exchange and will halt all withdrawals from the platform in March 2023.

Bitfront announced the development on Monday in a statement published on its website, noting the decision “is unrelated to recent issues related to certain exchanges that have been accused of misconduct.”

The collapse of FTX, a once-beloved Bahamas-headquartered cryptocurrency exchange, has been widely attributed to its misuse of customer funds and poor management practices.

In the Monday statement, Bitfront noted that it had done its best “to be a leader in the blockchain industry.” “However, despite our efforts to overcome the challenges in this rapidly-evolving industry, we have regretfully determined that we need to shut down Bitfront in order to continue growing the LINE blockchain ecosystem and LINK (LN) token economy,” the cryptocurrency exchanges explained.