DigiByte sets 'Thaw Day' hard fork for early November; Upbit to halt DGB transfers Oct. 31

Upbit, a South Korean crypto exchange, will suspend deposits and withdrawals of DigiByte (DGB) from 6 p.m. KST on Oct. 31 as the DigiByte network prepares a hard fork called "Thaw Day" at block height 24,490,000. In an Oct. 23 notice, Upbit said trading would continue without interruption and that deposits and withdrawals would resume once it confirms network stability.

Set by block height, not by date

In the notes for the final v9.26.6 release, posted on GitHub on Oct. 1, DigiByte developers said the new rules take effect from mainnet block 24,490,000, with activation expected around Nov. 1, 2026. "The block number starts the change. The date is an estimate," they added, meaning faster block production would bring it forward and slower production would push it back. The developers had committed to publishing release files and instructions at least 14 days before mainnet activation, and the final release came out on Oct. 1 (U.S. time). Version 9.26.7, released five days later, is a follow-up that fixes slow chain-information requests and other issues; it leaves the block-validation rules and the activation height unchanged.

As of 12:32 p.m. KST on Oct. 26, the DigiByte chain stood at block 24,450,071, about 39,900 blocks short of the activation point. Blocks have averaged roughly 15 seconds apart over the past week; at that pace, the chain would reach the target block around the morning of Nov. 2, KST.

What gets 'thawed'

The changes apply to DigiDollar (DD), a dollar-pegged stablecoin built into DigiByte. DigiDollars are minted against DGB locked as collateral in vaults, using DGB prices signed by multiple price providers, or oracles. The system went live on mainnet on July 17 through BIP9 miner signaling, and a price is accepted only with signatures from at least seven of 35 oracle slots. Under the current rules, a mechanism freezes new minting when prices swing sharply. From Thaw Day, that mint freeze is replaced by a new price check that uses prices already recorded in the chain. Transfers and redemptions will also stop using the old volatility freeze.

The developers said new mints will still need an accepted oracle price and enough collateral, and that large price swings can still pause minting. They said a change in how vault health is calculated could keep emergency restrictions in place longer or require more DD to redeem. Thaw Day itself creates no tokens and changes no wallet balances.

Every node must upgrade

The developers said all full-node and mining operators, including those who only use DGB and not DigiDollar, must upgrade to v9.26.6 or later before block 24,490,000, because older software can disagree about valid blocks after that height and follow a different chain. There is no miner vote to delay activation; postponing it would require a replacement build. The testnet exercise checked the switch itself, minting, transfers, redemptions, oracle prices and agreement between independent nodes.

In South Korea, DigiByte is listed only on Upbit's BTC and USDT markets; it is not traded in Upbit's Korean won market or on Bithumb. Around midday on Oct. 26, DGB traded at $0.00328 on Binance, down about 4.9% over 24 hours. On Upbit's BTC market, it was priced at 0.00000004 BTC.