Binance to pause Ethereum withdrawals during The Merge

The cryptocurrency exchange Binance will suspend deposits and withdrawals in Ethereum and ERC-20 tokens during the migration of the blockchain from the Proof-of-Work (PoW) algorithm to Proof-of-Stake (PoS).

#Ethereum will migrate to a PoS chain at approximately 12:30am UTC on September 15, 2022.

Ahead of any possible ramification from this event, #Binance is taking steps to reduce trading risks and to keep user funds SAFU.

🧵 on some things to note about our plans for The Merge.

— Binance (@binance) August 25, 2022

According to the developers’ plans, approximately September 6 the Bellatrix ‘consensus level’ (Beacon Chain) upgrade will take place. Presumably September 15 the Paris ‘execution layer’ upgrade activation (mainnet) will occur.

Binance noted that, as during hard fork a new token may appear, the exchange decided to ‘take steps to reduce volatility risks and ensure the safety of user funds’.

The platform will pause deposits and withdrawals of Ether and ERC-20 tokens:

• 6 September at 14:00 (Kyiv/Moscow time);
• 15 September at 03:00 (Kyiv/Moscow time).

Make sure you have enough time to fully process your ETH and ERC-20 transfers before the times listed above. We will meet all technical requirements for asset owners on the platform,” Binance’s team warned.

Trading operations on the platform will not be affected, except for cross-margin and isolated-margin borrowing of Ether.

The company outlined two possible scenarios after Ethereum’s The Merge:

• No new token is created. Binance will resume deposits/withdrawals as soon as possible;
• The blockchain splits into two competing chains. The ETH ticker will be retained by the Ethereum PoS network. The exchange will issue a fork token at a 1:1 ratio based on the snapshot before the Paris activation and add withdrawal capability for the new asset.

Binance Pool will discontinue Ethereum mining after The Merge. Users will be able to switch to mining Ethereum Classic.

As a reminder, Ethermine, the largest PoW hash-rate pool in the network and the second-largest by market capitalization, also said it will not support any potential PoW forks of the blockchain.

Read ForkLog’s bitcoin news in our Telegram — crypto news, rates and analytics.