ICON (ICX) mainnet token swap 20 June. How to safely swap coins

Got ICX? Here's how to make sure you still do after 20 June.

The ICON (ICX) token swap is happening with its mainnet launch on 20 June. This is when ICON will switch from the Ethereum blockchain to its own network and replace all its old tokens with new ones.

All swapped tokens will be retrieved by the ICON Foundation and burned, while any non-swapped ERC20 ICX coins will be disabled after the swapping period ends. The swapping period runs for three months, starting on 20 June. That's your time frame for ensuring your coins are safely switched out. If you miss the window, your coins are gone.

How to make the switch

There are two main ways to handle the switch.

The easiest way is probably to deposit the coins into a supporting exchange and have them handle the swap for you. You can make the deposit until 20 or 21 June 2018 at the latest, depending on the exchange. From there, they'll perform the actual swap at their own pace.

You can also do it yourself through the ICONex wallet. This can be done on 25 June at the earliest, up until 25 September at the latest.

How to swap through an exchange

Deposit your ICX in a participating exchange before the deadline, and they'll be converted without you needing to do anything.

• The deadline: Most exchanges are closing ICX deposits on 20 June, so that's probably the last day to get your coins onto an exchange.
• Participating exchanges: The ICON foundation has released a safe list of exchanges it trusts to handle the swap. Other exchanges will also make the swap, but they're not officially doing it with ICON, so you use these at your own risk.

The catch is that most of ICON's participating exchanges are based in Korea, which might be a headache for users in other countries. These officially participating exchanges and their deposit deadlines include the following:

• Binance: Deposit by 20 June, 9am UTC+9
• Upbit: Deposit by 20 June, 10pm UTC+9
• Bithumb: Deposit by 21 June (exact time TBD)

Other exchanges will also be performing the swap, but ICON warns that you go with these at your own risk. If you go with another exchange, make sure it's a reputable and reliable one.

CoinSpot, for example, will also be handling the swap, disabling ICX deposits from 19 June. It's not an official partner, but as one of Australia's best-known exchanges, one might reasonably assume that it's a reliable choice.

How to handle the swap yourself

If you missed the exchange swap deadline, you can still DIY the switch through ICON's ICONex wallet. You can do this from 25 June to 25 September.

Here's the ICON Foundation's nice and clear step-by-step guide to swapping the tokens. It's designed to be a fairly easy process, and the short version is basically that you just need to have coins in your wallet and then click the "swap" button.

Note that you will need a (very) small amount of Ethereum to pay the gas fees for the swap contract.

What else to know

The main thing to know is that if you miss the final 25 September deadline, the coins are gone for good.

It's also probably not advisable to swap the coins through ICONex before the official start time, and it's worth being wary of any exchange other than Binance, Upbit, Bithumb and any other specifically named as trustworthy by the ICON Foundation.

It's also safe to assume that there will be scammers running around. Don't ever trust anyone who tells you to send your coins to a specific address, and use caution whenever someone suggests an exchange that's not on the official list.

Trading will be recommencing on each exchange as soon as they finish their own swapping process. How long it takes will vary by exchange, but you won't have to wait until September to start trading mainnet ICX tokens.

The ICON team will be issuing regular updates throughout the process, and you can find the FAQ and submit any questions you have to the ICON team through the links at the bottom of this Medium post.

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author holds ETH, IOTA, ICX, VET, XLM, BTC and NANO.

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