If there ever was an exchange being worked on fixing it would be the most obvious thing to do.
Throwing out the whole thing now would be idiotic if securing it was all that was needed to complete the project and deliver what people paid into.
If you think simply claiming the 'exchange failed' is sufficient information at the final hour, shutting everything down and keeping the ico funds, you're kidding yourself.
The whole thing was just another shitty ico money grab
If it walks like a duck.
Ico funds? You mean the Bitcoin that got burned when my house was burned down last year? Ico money grab? You realise we only raised about $10K during the ICO in 2016? If I wanted to "money grab" I would not be here 2 years later... wow....

And if I say it failed, it failed... Who are you to decide differently? We're you the one coding the exchange? No, I don't think so... Last time I checked I was doing that..
But wait, we can do it like this though... I will put everything online, launch the exchange, trade etc... When we get hacked (80% chance), I will point everyone claiming to have lost funds to your address! How's that?
Is it so hard to accept and understand that I failed with this (end)project? If so, you know how to exit...
Meanwhile the PIO ICO price in dollar value is still up about 5-7x..