HitBTC exchange consists of many parts, which are carefully designed and engineered to work seamlessly together. The matching engine, exchange interface, API – all these components are always online and we are in control of them.
But we are not in control of the software behind coins. We do not develop the wallet software, we use it. And we're not talking about a regular wallet for single-person use. Our traders need a robust wallet capable of performing dozens of operations per second, remaining secure and online at all times. Until a wallet meets the highest requirements, it can't be allowed to operate with our traders' funds.
Wallet maintenance is a major part of our work. HitBTC holds the record for the amount of coins available for trading. Behind every coin there is a team developing the coin software, making changes, updates, facing issues. We are constantly in touch with our partners, providing mutual assistance. We also can (and often do) make our own changes in the wallet software to adapt it to our traders' needs. In most cases you won't even notice that a certain wallet was down for maintenance – we do it fast.
Still, on very rare occasions it takes a significant time to safely launch a wallet.
Reliability and safety of our traders' funds are our top priorities. Remember that your coins are safe with us, we're taking every measure to keep things this way, even if it occasionally requires for a wallet to be offline for longer than usual.