OKX Ceases Mining Pool Operations After Five Years
OKX, a cryptocurrency exchange, has announced that it will be discontinuing its mining pool and related services due to “business adjustments” in preparation for the upcoming Bitcoin halving. The shutdown of the mining pool services will be effective immediately for new-user registrations, while existing users will be allowed to continue using the service until February 25th. After this date, all mining pool-related services will be terminated.
As of now, OKX holds the 36th position among the top 70 Bitcoin-focused mining pools, with a total hash rate slightly exceeding 496 TH/s, according to data from Mining Pools. The exchange initially launched its mining pool services in October 2018 and provided support for various cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum Classic, and Decred.
The decision to discontinue the mining pool services comes as Bitcoin prepares for its fourth halving event, scheduled to take place in April. During the halving, the miner rewards will be reduced from 6.25 to 3.125 BTC. This event occurs approximately every four years, specifically every 210,000 blocks, as part of Bitcoin’s design to combat inflation and maintain its value over time. The halving cuts the reward for mining new blocks in half, slowing down the creation of new Bitcoins and ultimately reducing the total supply of Bitcoins in circulation.
In light of this announcement, OKX has also revealed its user compensation plan following the recent OKB price crash.
