Ahead Of Merge, Binance Suspends Ethereum Withdrawals And Deposits On These Networks

Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance is suspending all deposits and withdrawals of Ethereum ETH/USD ahead of the Merge event that will go live this week.

What Happened: Binance said all ETH and Wrapped Ethereum WETH/USD on a number of networks would be suspended on Sept. 6 at 2 a.m. UTC. The suspension will last until The Merge is complete. 

The impacted networks include ETH on Arbitrum, ETH on Optimism and WETH on Ronin.

“The suspension will last until the Merge is complete. Deposits and withdrawals of Ether (ETH) and Wrapped Ether (WETH) on the impacted networks will resume when the networks are deemed stable,” said Binance in a blog.

See Also: Ethereum Merge Scheduled For Mainnet On Sept. 6 After Bellatrix Upgrade

The suspension, according to the cryptocurrency exchange, is a means of securing the appropriate allocation of tokens in case there is a chain split following The Merge.

The highly anticipated Merge event has been described as Ethereum’s most important upgrade to date. The event will transition the blockchain from a Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism to a Proof-of-Stake one.

See Also: WHAT IS ETHEREUM?

The Merge will also mark the end of mining Ethereum, forcing many miners to migrate to other networks such as Ethereum Classic ETC/USD — a cryptocurrency that has rallied 26% in the last 24 hours.

Price Action: At the time of writing, ETH was trading at $1,6377, up 4% over the last 24 hours.