OKX, a top crypto exchange with over 20 million customers, has issued a statement in advance of the upcoming Merge – when Ethereum will finally migrate from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS). The announcement by OKX is to “ensure that users are prepared for the event.”
There has been a good amount of chatter regarding a possible fork creating a new token (or tokens). OKX, like many other crypto platforms, are preparing for any potential volatility during the transition and potential fork
To quote the OKX announcement:
Based on the Ethereum Foundation’s announcements, the Merge will occur when Ethereum Mainnet reaches a block height of 15,540,293. This will happen sometime between September 10-20, 2022, perhaps around September 15, 2022 (UTC). The Merge will occur in two steps, Bellatrix and Paris.
Bellatrix is a consensus layer upgrade to make the Beacon Chain “Merge aware.” It will occur when the Beacon Chain reaches an epoch height of 144,896, around September 6, 2022 (UTC).
Paris is the execution layer’s transition from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS). It will occur when Ethereum’s PoW chain achieves a Terminal Total Difficulty (TTD) value of 58750000000000000000000, around September 15, 2022 (UTC).
At this point, Ethereum’s execution layer will merge into the proof-of-stake Beacon Chain, and Ethereum’s PoW chain will shut down, completing The Merge.
To ensure the security of your assets, we recommend that you deposit ETH to OKX ahead of time. OKX will assist you in handling any technical issues that may arise during the Merge.
As a new token might be created during a hard fork, OKX will take the following steps to reduce the trading risks brought about by price volatility during the hard fork:
1. Suspension of ETH deposits and withdrawals
OKX will suspend ETH and other Ethereum-based (ERC-20) token deposits and withdrawals during the two upgrade events. We will announce the specific date and time.
September 6, 2022 (UTC) for the Bellatrix consensus layer upgrade
September 15, 2022 (UTC) for the Paris execution layer upgrade
2. Regarding The Merge
OKX states there are two possible scenarios which may take place.
First, no new tokens are created and OKX will resume ETH and ERC-20 transactions, once the all clear is given.
Second, new tokens are created during the Merge. OKX will treat the tokens generated on the Ethereum PoS chain as “ETH” and treat tokens generated on the Ethereum PoW chain as forked tokens.
OKX adds:
Before the Paris upgrade, forked token creators may take snapshots of your ETH balances. Forked tokens will then be airdropped to you at a 1:1 ratio to your ETH holdings and will be available for deposits and withdrawals. Further details regarding the airdrop will be included in a separate announcement.
The forked tokens will go through our normal listing review process before anyone can trade them on OKX. We will notify you in a separate announcement if the tokens pass the review.
3. Trading services
Spot trading: The Merge will not affect spot trading for ETH and ERC-20 tokens.
Margin trading: The Merge will not affect trading for ETH cross and isolated margin pairs. However, OKX will suspend ETH margin borrowing and VIP borrowing services. Before service suspension, OKX might adjust the margin borrowing interest rate based on market conditions. We will notify you of the adjustments in a separate announcement.
Please note that if you have any outstanding ETH loans, including the negative equity in your trading account’s multi-currency margin mode, at the time of the snapshot, you will have to repay the loan using the forked tokens, in the event of Scenario B. It is recommended that you repay your ETH loans in advance.
Futures and perpetual trading: The Merge will not affect ETHUSDT and ETHUSD perpetual swaps, nor ETHUSDT and ETHUSD futures trading.
Options trading: The Merge will not affect ETHUSD options trading.
As ETH prices might experience extreme fluctuations during the Merge, please reduce or close your positions, reduce your leverage, or increase your margin in advance. Based on market conditions, OKX might take further risk control measures, which we will notify you about in separate announcements. These may include, but are not limited to:
（1） Adjusting the margin tiers for ETH perpetual swaps and futures contracts
（2）Adjusting ETH’s margin discount rate tiers in multi-currency mode and portfolio margin mode
（3）Adjusting the funding rate and the price limits for ETH perpetual swaps
（4）Adjusting the constituents for ETH/USDT and ETH/USD index prices and the mark price of ETH contracts.
Additionally, OKX states that other services like savings, staking etc. will not be impacted by the Merge.
“Your invested ETH will be included in the snapshot. Please ensure you take sufficient risk control measures, as price volatility is often high during contentious hard forks.”
The Merge will not affect ETH loans.
ETH 2.0 Staking: Subscriptions will be suspended on the day of September 6 and September 15, 2022. Your BETH profits will be distributed normally. Whether staked ETH will be included in the snapshot depends on how the forked chain handles ETH2.0 contracts. There will be a separate announcement explaining the specifics.
DeFi mining: Subscriptions to all projects will not be affected. On-chain staking and redemption will be suspended on the day of September 6 and September 15, 2022. Redemption and profit distribution will be delayed.
5. Fiat services
The Merge will not affect fiat services.
6. Convert
The Merge will not affect ETH conversion services.
For any inquiries regarding this listing, please feel free to contact us in the official OKX Telegram group or via the Support Center.