Japanese social-media company LINE will shut down its US-based crypto exchange BITFRONT claiming that its decision has nothing to do with “certain exchanges that have been accused of misconduct”.

BITFRONT seemed to be referring to the now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX which has just claimed another victim as crypto lender BlockFi was forced to file for bankruptcy due to its financial ties to the former.

The crypto exchange was initially launched in 2018 in Singapore as BITBOX before rebranding as BITFRONT in 2020 ahead of its move to the US.

BITFRONT said in a statement that this move was taken in order to focus instead on growing its blockchain ecosystem and the LINK token economy.

As of yesterday, BITFRONT has suspended all new signups and credit card payments.

BITFRONT said that it will pay out the interest for deposits made from 5 December 2022 to 11 December 2022 on the 13 December. On the same day, users will also face forced withdrawals of all deposits and interest of LN and LN interest products.

The crypto exchange will suspend trading on 30 December and will finally bar withdrawals on 31 March 2023.