A withdrawal being "on hold" usually means that your withdrawal cannot be processed due to a hold on your account.
In most instances, a withdrawal hold of five days is triggered after making specific security setting changes to your account. This helps protect the funds on your account in the event that your account is compromised and an attacker is attempting to steal your funds.
For instance, if your email account is hacked, the attacker may attempt to make a password reset to access your Bitfinex account. As the attacker would be able to confirm the password reset via the link sent to your email (if no withdrawal hold was triggered) then he would be able to steal the funds moments after entering your account successfully with the password he reset.
The five-day hold period will allow the legitimate account owner to detect the security breach and alert Bitfinex.
What are the most common triggers of a withdrawal hold
- Password reset;
- 2FA reset;
- Unlocking a locked withdrawal address or changing an existing address;
- Requesting a security change through support (PGP reset / email address change / IP whitelisting change).
Note: During a withdrawal hold, no withdrawals can be processed. If you submit a withdrawal, it will be automatically cancelled.
How to remove the hold manually
If your account is verified at the Intermediate level or above, you can request to have a withdrawal hold lifted before the hold expires.
Please contact Bitfinex Support, and our team will request relevant ID verification information to make sure that you are the legitimate owner of the account.
Upon verifying your identity, the withdrawal hold will be lifted as soon as possible.
Important: We can only lift a withdrawal hold prior to expiry if your account was intermediate/fully verified before the hold was triggered. If you are not yet verified and your account is on withdrawal hold, you can not have your account verified in order to have an existing withdrawal hold removed.
Note: If you are Basic Plus verified, a withdrawal hold cannot be lifted beforehand. We suggest that you verify your account further.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Bitfinex Support.
