The controversial cryptocurrency lending and exchange platform BitConnect announced today that it will be shutting the programme down for good. On the website, the company have released a statement saying that it would be closing its lending operations immediately, and the exchange platform will then completely shut down in the next five days. They said; “We are closing the lending operation immediately with the release of all outstanding loans…With release of your entire active loan in the lending wallet we are transferring all your lending wallet balance to your BitConnect wallet balance at 363.62USD…This rate has ben calculated based on the last 15 days averages of the closing price registered on coinmarketcap.com.” The reason behind the closure has been blamed on increased scrutiny from US state regulators. They said; “We have received two Cease and Desist letters, one from the Texas State Securities Board, and one from the North Carolina Secretary of State Securities Division. These actions have become a hindrance for the legal continuation of the platform.”They have also been the target of hackers, which has affected people’s opinion of the exchange, and the continued ban run of press reduced people’s confidence greatly. Despite the closure of the platform, they will still be supporting the cryptocurrency that is associated with the lending and exchange operation of BitConnect; BitConnect Coin. They said; “We will keep working to make BitConnect coin available to merchant websites, providing them with API access to accept BitConnect Coins on their platforms.” The value of the coin is currently 37,68USS, and they have 6,298,358 of the currency in circulation.