OKCoin’s margin exchange to suspend bitcoin deposits/withdrawals on July 31st

OKEx, the futures cryptocurrency exchange platform from China’s OKCoin has announced today its policy on the User Activated Hard Fork (UAHF). OKEx, which was recently launched stated they are dedicated to building the application layer for Bitcoin, and its purpose is to serve the best interests of each one of its customers. As such, OKEx does not and has no power to help users choose which kind of Bitcoin technology to adopt.

Officially, OKEx is preparing for the upcoming potential Bitcoin forks with the following policies:

1. During the potential fork, from 2017-07-31 to 2017-08-02, OKEx will suspend Bitcoin deposits and withdrawals due to potential technical risks such as replay attacks and other issues that may cause network instability. OKEx will further advise on specific timing but they are advising that users deposit Bitcoin in advance in order to not affect trading.

2. If there is no fork, and the network is stable, OKEX will resume Bitcoin deposits and withdrawals.

3. If Bitcoin is split into several blockchains, OKEx will for every blockchain give users their rightful ownership of their Bitcoin. In addition, OKEx will take steps to support trading for every type of Bitcoin. On OKEx contracts trading, for existing undelivered maturities, the calculation of the Index price will be the sum price of all Bitcoin types of the respective exchanges should they support them. After delivery, new OKEx contracts will be tied to a particular version of Bitcoin, and OKEx will take steps to support contract trading for all types of Bitcoin. For undelivered maturities, post the splitting of Bitcoin, when adding margin funds, all types of Bitcoin will be required.

4. In all these circumstances, the easiest way for uninterrupted trading is for users to deposit Bitcoin in advance and OKEx will handle all resulting technical issues related to the potential Bitcoin forks.

5. If unexpected events occur during the potential Bitcoin fork period, OKEx may temporarily also suspend Bitcoin trading. If it’s deemed someone has maliciously manipulated the market during this period, OKEx may take measures including the suspension and roll back of trades.

The OKEx team said:

“Our stance is that OKEx will support all competing forms of Bitcoin, and grant each option to our customers and the market.”

“We believe in the years ahead, after a long period of market competition, one or several versions of Bitcoin will be widely adopted. Let us all work towards that future together.”