IOTA (IOTA) Network Hard Fork and Stardust Upgrade

Bitfinex will be supporting the upcoming IOTA Network Hard Fork and Stardust Upgrade, which is expected to take place on 04/10/2023 at approximately 06:00 AM UTC. The upgrade will introduce a number of new features and enhancements to the IOTA Stardust protocol, such as Multi Asset Support, Smart Contracts, Output Unlock Conditions, Storage Deposits, IOTA Smart Contracts (ISC) and more. The new features and enhancements are intended to make IOTA a more powerful and versatile platform for developers and customers, as well as to improve the scalability and security of the IOTA Network.

After the upgrade, there will be two versions of the IOTA Network:

• IOTA Stardust: The new network that will be running the Stardust protocol
• IOTA Classic: An older version of the network that will continue to run the current protocol

The IOTA Foundation announced that following the upgrade, it will only support the IOTA Stardust Network, and support for the IOTA Classic Network will be dependent on the community. It may be abandoned, or the IOTA Classic community may maintain it. Bitfinex will also only support the IOTA Stardust Network.

The upgrade will not result in two versions of the IOTA token, but some changes will be made to the Tokenomics of IOTA. The purpose of this is to improve the security and sustainability of the IOTA Network as well as to increase the utility of the IOTA token.

Customers who hold IOTA tokens on the Bitfinex platform will not need to do anything. After the upgrade, their tokens will be automatically transferred to the new Stardust Network.

Bitfinex will temporarily suspend IOTA deposits and withdrawals on 03/10/2023 at approximately 6:00 PM UTC. IOTA trading will not be affected. The IOTA Foundation estimates that the upgrade will take up to four hours to complete. Customers can follow the progress of the upgrade on the IOTA X account (formerly "Twitter").

Once the upgrade is complete and the network has been deemed stable, Bitfinex will resume IOTA deposits and withdrawals. 

Forward-Looking Statements:

Certain statements in this announcement may be forward-looking in nature. The words “believe,” “expect,” “estimate,” “could,” “should,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “seek,” “anticipate,” “project” and similar expressions among others, generally identify “forward-looking statements,” which speak only as of the date the statements were made. The matters discussed in these forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, trends and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. None of Bitfinex nor any other person is responsible for updating or revising any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.