Two major South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges, Upbit and Bithumb, announced temporary suspensions of deposit and withdrawal services for several tokens on May 6, citing network upgrades and wallet maintenance. Upbit will halt all deposits and withdrawals for Stellar (XLM) starting at 3:30 p.m. UTC, also pausing withdrawals for AQUA and Mobius (MOBI), both built on the Stellar network. Bithumb separately announced a withdrawal freeze for Swell Network (SWELL) beginning at 2:00 p.m. UTC due to scheduled wallet system maintenance.
Both exchanges emphasized the measures are precautionary to ensure network stability and asset safety during the technical work. Upbit's pause is tied to a planned Stellar network upgrade, a routine event to improve performance and security. Bithumb's maintenance aims to enhance wallet infrastructure integrity. Neither exchange provided an exact duration, but stated services will resume once stability is confirmed, typically within a few hours to a day.
Trading of affected tokens is expected to continue as normal on both platforms, with only transfers in and out temporarily restricted. Users are advised to complete any pending withdrawals before the respective cutoffs. The events highlight how exchange operations remain closely linked to blockchain maintenance cycles, though such brief disruptions generally have minimal lasting impact on market prices.
