Since inception, BitMEX has always held 100% of our Bitcoin in secure multi-signature wallets – meaning withdrawals require manual human intervention – and are only processed once per day at 13:00 UTC to maximise our security.
Our wallet system is safe and secure, but it creates an undesirably slow user experience – even for low-risk, small withdrawals when users want to move funds around quickly.
We listened to our users, so today we’re starting a phased roll-out of our risk-weighted, faster Bitcoin withdrawal process.
It’s an introduction that will allow the vast majority of users to withdraw small amounts of Bitcoin on a quicker and more frequent basis, rather than waiting for our once-a-day withdrawal processing.
Starting today, users will be able to withdraw up to 0.01 BTC – with processing on an hourly basis. In the coming weeks, we will be making incremental increases to the upper limit of hourly withdrawals – with an initial limit of 0.01 BTC, to a final upper limit of 5 BTC.
Please rest assured that our top priority is, and always will be, to protect our platform and users’ funds. Therefore, the once-per-day BTC withdrawal process will continue to apply to larger withdrawals or those that require additional security screening.
To learn more about our faster Bitcoin withdrawal process – and what this means for our users – read on.
If you haven’t yet signed up for a BitMEX account, you can do so here.
The 101 on Faster Bitcoin Withdrawals on BitMEX
Here are the finer details of our new Bitcoin withdrawal process:
- Withdrawal acceleration is handled on a first-come, first-served basis. To manage risk, the acceleration service applies only to smaller Bitcoin withdrawals, and in any given 24-hour period it is possible that funds in our Hot Wallet may be depleted. If this happens, remaining withdrawals will be processed at 13:00 UTC.
- Withdrawal requests are subject to security screening that may prevent them from being accelerated.
- Confirmed withdrawals eligible for acceleration will be user-cancellable for a much shorter window. Withdrawals held over to the daily process remain user-cancellable until 13:00 UTC.
- Amounts held in our Hot Wallet are not material to our solvency; the bulk of funds remain in our existing Bitcoin Wallet custody. Needless to say, we include Hot Wallet balances in our Proof of Reserves system.
- Rather than our traditional large multi-signature transactions, transfers from our Hot Wallets use MPC signatures, which take no more space in the transaction than a single signature, so may be confirmed more quickly.
- Nevertheless, once broadcast, the confirmation time of Bitcoin withdrawals remains outside of our control, and may take longer than expected or incur higher fees at times.
Arriving Soon: More Features and Crypto Derivative Listings
The introduction of accelerated Bitcoin withdrawals represents our continued focus to enhance the versatility and accessibility of our platform. And in the coming weeks, we will be launching new features and listings – including crypto’s first-ever ETH staking yield swap.
Download the BitMEX Mobile app to trade your favourite crypto derivatives contracts and spot trading pairs on the go, and connect with us on Discord, Telegram, and Twitter to be the first to know about our new listings and giveaways.
In the meantime, if you have any questions please contact Support.
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