BitMEX redistributes Bitcoin deposit addresses to reduce withdrawal fees.

BitMEX has made a strategic decision to improve the usability of the Bitcoin space and reduce withdrawal fees for its users.

In a significant update starting November 1, 2023, BitMEX will offer a new Bitcoin deposit address to all its customers.

BitMEX Reissues Bitcoin Deposit Addresses.

BitMEX has recently made significant improvements aimed at facilitating the use of Bitcoin's blockchain and reducing withdrawal fees for its users. As of October 30 advertisementBitMEX will redistribute all customer Bitcoin deposit addresses, into more efficient Pay-to-Witness Print Key Hash (P2WPKH) Bech32 format addresses.

The change eliminates complex multi-signature transactions, replacing them with single-chain signatures, resulting in significant weight savings without compromising security.

of Transition New users will receive the updated addresses from November 1, 2023 and existing addresses will be changed in a phased manner. Users are urged to stop using old addresses, update their address books and register the new ones on their whitelist. Addresses to ensure a seamless transition.

Conversion from multi-signature to Bech32 addresses

BitMEX's decision to reissue Bitcoin deposit addresses is a response to the evolving landscape of blockchain technology. The new addresses will be in Bech32 format in Pay-to-Witness Publishing Key Hash (P2WPKH), commonly called “bc1 addresses”. This change involves the removal of historical “useless” address prefixes including “3BMEX” and “bc1qmex”.

BitMEX previously used deposit addresses based on Bitcoin on chain 3 of 4. Multisig System (P2WSH). This complex process required three signatures published on the blockchain for each transaction from a deposit address, along with Segregated Witness (SegWit) witness discounting. As a result, it consumes a large amount of block space.

The new one Wallet Addresses, on the other hand, only require a single on-chain signature (P2WPKH) for each fund transfer. This transformation is facilitated by multi-party computation (MPC-CMP) using highly secure and geographically distributed private keys.

Notably, this updated signature scheme is already employed for BitMEX's hot exit process.

Meanwhile, to improve security, BNB Chain recently unveiled a new secure multi-signature wallet solution called BNB Safe, built on the Gnosis Safe protocol. It is currently accessible on both the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) and opBNB networks.