(Bloomberg) — Crypto entities ranging from exchanges to lending protocols plan to temporarily disable many Ethereum-related functions in the hours before and after the network undergoes the most ambitious change ever attempted in blockchain technology.
(Bloomberg) — Crypto entities ranging from exchanges to lending protocols plan to temporarily disable many Ethereum-related functions in the hours before and after the network undergoes the most ambitious change ever attempted in blockchain technology.
The software upgrade dubbed the Merge is projected by developers to be completed in around 12 hours. The network is changing how it orders transactions, a move that is forecast to cut its electricity consumption by about 99%.
While the update is projected as being unnoticeable to network users, the transition could still be followed by glitches, bugs and scams.
In most cases, spot and futures trading in Ether and other Ethereum-related coins will be unaffected. But deposits and withdrawals of all Ethereum-related coins may be paused some time before and after the Merge is completed.
The businesses are also watching for the emergence of any so-called forks — or copies of Ethereum — that could potentially lead to confusion and hacks. One such fork, called EthereumPOW, proposes to copy Ethereum in its current state, with powerful computers called miners supporting transaction-ordering on its network. In the Merge, Ethereum will move away from this power-hungry system to a much more energy efficient one. But Ether holders may be able to collect free EthereumPOW tokens, depending on where they hold their coins.
The Merge is currently expected to take place between 12:47 a.m. Eastern time and 1:34 a.m. Eastern time on Sept. 15, according to tracker Bordel.wtf.
Here Are Some of the Planned Disruptions:
- Binance, the world’s biggest exchange, said it will suspend withdrawals and deposits for all Ethereum-related coins, including Ether, one hour before the Merge.
- Exchange OKX suspended Ether and other Ethereum-related coin deposits and withdrawals at 11 am Eastern on Sept. 14. The company will also suspend all Ether transfers for 10 minutes around 11 pm Eastern time to take a snapshot of all users’ holdings, so as to accurately provide any forked tokens to users.
- FTX plans to suspend Ethereum-based token withdrawals and deposits about half an hour before the completion of the Merge. Spot trading, spot margin trading and futures won’t be affected.
- Coinbase Global Inc. is pausing deposits and withdrawals for Ether and all Ethereum-related tokens across Coinbase.com, Coinbase Pro, Advanced Trade and Coinbase Exchange at 10 p.m. Eastern Wednesday. This will impact transfers on Ethereum, Polygon and Optimism networks. The pause should take about four hours to complete once the Merge begins.
- Kraken said deposits and withdrawals of all Ethereum-based tokens will be disabled during the Merge. Kraken will review any forked tokens and decide whether to support them. Spot trading and futures won’t be affected.
- Bitfinex plans to pause deposits and withdrawals of all Ethereum-based tokens two hours before the Merge. Four hours before the Merge, it will pause trading and cancel orders of all ETHW and ETHS trading pairs.
- Gemini expects to disable deposits of all Ethereum-based tokens at 9 p.m. Eastern Wednesday. Users are asked not to send any Ethereum-based tokens to Gemini until deposits are re-enabled, some time after the Merge, as they may get lost.
- Kucoin said that borrowing and lending services of Ether in cross-margin and isolated margin will be temporarily closed from 11 am Eastern to 11 p.m. Eastern on Sept. 14 (the timing may still change). At 8:30 p.m. Eastern, the company will temporarily suspend transfers of all assets in the margin accounts for users with Ether debts. Users are encouraged to repay their Ether loans before the Merge.
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