BitMEX Exchange Post Halving Warning, Traders May Face Increased Withdrawal Fees And Delays in Transactions

BitMEX exchange released its final statement on the upcoming Bitcoin halving, the troubles that may face miners, and the implication it has to its users.

Less than 500 blocks are remaining before Bitcoin’s third halving and the community is showing impatience on what will happen post halving. Despite it being four years since the last halving in 2016, and price having soared by 1500%, the current sentiments and questions arising from the blockchain community are not that different.

Concerns on the effect of the halving range from miners’ survival, hash rate, transaction fees among other on-chain fundamentals. However, the current state of the global economy due to the COVID-19 lockdown pressures gives this halving a different angle to the previous halving events.

BitMEX Statement On Bitcoin Halving

One of the major talking points remains miners’ survival rate post-halving as the incentives are cut in half assuming BTC remains at current levels. With smaller miners expected to shut down, the hash rate, in turn, will be affected in the short term – currently the hash rate is at yearly highs of 120-125 Eh/s. Research published by BitMEX estimates the figure of the hash rate drop to be between 30% and 35%.

Due to decreasing hash rates, the transaction confirmation times will spike temporarily before the hash rate and difficulty adjusts accordingly. Due to this, BitMEX warns its customers that the exchange may face higher confirmation times on its withdrawals but expects this to be solved once the hash rates revert back to normal weeks after the event.

The statement reads,

“Given the likely hash rate decline post halving, at least for the first few weeks, users may see some delays to transaction times, and a subsequent increase in network fees for withdrawals.”