South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb has announced two separate temporary suspensions of deposit and withdrawal services to support upcoming network upgrades for the Arbitrum and Qtum blockchains.
For the Arbitrum network upgrade, Bithumb will suspend deposits and withdrawals for twelve digital assets on January 8, 2025, starting at 09:00 UTC. The affected assets include ARB (Arbitrum's native governance token), ETH (Ethereum bridged to Arbitrum), GMX, ZTX, AGIC, XAI, ZRO, BOUNTY, ANIME, OBT, MLK, and LZM. Importantly, trading for these assets on Bithumb's internal order books will remain operational during the suspension period. The exchange stated this is a proactive measure to ensure a smooth transition during the critical upgrade to the Arbitrum scaling solution, which focuses on reducing transaction costs and increasing speed for Ethereum.
For the Qtum and Qi network upgrades, Bithumb will suspend deposit and withdrawal services for Qtum (QTUM) and Qi (QI) tokens on January 11, 2025, also starting at 09:00 UTC. Similar to the Arbitrum suspension, spot trading for these assets is expected to continue normally. The suspension supports essential network upgrades for both the Qtum blockchain, which combines Bitcoin's UTXO model with Ethereum's virtual machine, and the Qi token, which is the native token of the Benqi liquid staking protocol on the Avalanche network.
Industry analysts note that such coordinated actions between exchanges and protocol developers are a hallmark of a maturing ecosystem. A blockchain infrastructure analyst from a Seoul-based fintech research firm explained, "When a major exchange like Bithumb publicly schedules maintenance for a network upgrade, it signals robust institutional support for the underlying protocol. This coordination minimizes systemic risk and builds user trust."
Bithumb has advised users to complete any necessary transfers before the respective suspension times and to monitor official announcements for service resumption. The exchange emphasized that funds remain secure in user wallets during these maintenance periods, which are standard safety-first practices in the industry.
