---
title: "Why BuyCoins Pro shut down"
description: "Helicarrier (formerly BuyCoins) sunset its advanced crypto trading platform BuyCoins Pro in December 2023, citing insufficient trading volume to fill customer orders, against the backdrop of Nigeria's 2021 CBN restrictions on bank support for crypto exchanges and the post-FTX crypto downturn; the shutdown coincided with the quiet departure of two of the startup's three founders."
canonical_url: "https://liners.com/graveyard/buycoins-pro"
markdown_url: "https://liners.com/graveyard/buycoins-pro.md"
type: "graveyard"
language: "en"
image: "/graveyard/buycoins-pro/certificate.png"
published_at: "2026-07-31T17:41:07.836Z"
updated_at: "2026-07-31T17:41:07.836Z"
---

# Why BuyCoins Pro shut down

Helicarrier (formerly BuyCoins) sunset its advanced crypto trading platform BuyCoins Pro in December 2023, citing insufficient trading volume to fill customer orders, against the backdrop of Nigeria's 2021 CBN restrictions on bank support for crypto exchanges and the post-FTX crypto downturn; the shutdown coincided with the quiet departure of two of the startup's three founders.

## Breadcrumbs

- [Graveyard](/graveyard)
- [BuyCoins Pro](/graveyard/buycoins-pro)

## Summary

Here lies BuyCoins Pro. It gave Nigeria's technical traders order books and currency pairs atop the BuyCoins app. But there was never enough volume to fill their orders, and between the central bank's crypto ban and the post-FTX chill, its owner wound the Pro tier down.

Helicarrier (formerly BuyCoins) sunset its advanced crypto trading platform BuyCoins Pro in December 2023, citing insufficient trading volume to fill customer orders, against the backdrop of Nigeria's 2021 CBN restrictions on bank support for crypto exchanges and the post-FTX crypto downturn; the shutdown coincided with the quiet departure of two of the startup's three founders.

## Product history

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Fate | Sunset |
| Primary cause | Regulation |
| Stage at shutdown | Seed |
| Lifespan in days | 2556 |

## Autopsy report

## What the product attempted

An advanced crypto trading exchange tier ('Pro') for technical traders, offering order books and multiple currency pairs, built atop the original BuyCoins peer-to-peer crypto app founded in 2017 (as Bitkoin) and accepted into Y Combinator in 2018.

## Early warning signs

Customers complained the exchange lacked enough trading volume to fill their orders; Nigeria's Central Bank barred banks from servicing crypto exchanges in 2021; two of the startup's three founders quietly had their directorships terminated (one in 2021, another mid-2023).

## What happened

In December 2023 Helicarrier announced BuyCoins Pro would be sunset, giving users a three-month window to withdraw assets; the closure followed years of regulatory pressure from the CBN's 2021 crypto banking ban and the 2022 FTX-driven crypto downturn, and coincided with the quiet exit of two of the three co-founders.

## Sources

- [What Went Wrong? A Deep Dive into BuyCoins Pro's Crumble](https://startupgraveyard.africa/blog/what-went-wrong-a-deep-dive-into-buycoins-pros-crumble): TechNext24
- [Founders of YC-backed Helicarrier, formerly Buycoins, quit quietly in 2023](https://techpoint.africa/news/buycoins-helicarrier-founders-quit/): Techpoint Africa
- [Helicarrier shuts its crypto trading platform Buycoins Pro](https://www.mariblock.com/helicarrier-shuts-crypto-trading-platform-buycoins-pro/): Mariblock

## Related pages

- [BuyCoins Pro alternatives](/buycoins-pro/alternatives)
- [Liners Graveyard](/graveyard)

## Access and citation

- [Canonical HTML page](https://liners.com/graveyard/buycoins-pro)
- [Markdown route index](/sitemap.md)
- [Agent access guide](/llms.txt)