Five days ago, the influential Chinese crypto miner, Chandler Guo, explained that a proof-of-work (PoW) version of Ethereum is “coming soon” as the community prepares for the network’s transition to proof-of-stake (PoS) next month. As usual, the idea of a forked token gets people excited and some individuals get upset, and even though the token hasn’t been created yet, there’s now a website called ethereumpow.org summarizing the coin’s goals.
The Merge Upgrade Could Produce an Ethereum PoW Fork, Poloniex to List 2 ‘Potential Forked’ Ethereum Token Markets
If Ethereum (ETH) transitions into a full PoS blockchain next month, there’s a very good chance a PoW version will fork away from the current version. A Merge date has been set for September 19, which is 44 days away. Guo, a cryptominer well-known for his role in creating the Ethereum Classic (ETC) blockchain network, is now a Merge participant. On August 1, Bitcoin.com News reported on Guo tweeting about a PoW version of Ethereum “coming soon” and how he said, “ETH PoW is DAO.”
Now there’s a new website touting the not-yet-born ethereum PoW version called ethereumpow.org, and the web portal claims a white paper is coming soon. The website’s “community [and] contributors” section says: “It takes a village to raise our Ethereumpow. Numbers of communities, exchanges, miners, and individuals have worked together to make ETHW possible.” Domain statistics from Whois records indicate that the web portal was registered on July 31, 2022. The ETHW website owner’s name and identity has been “redacted for privacy,” the internet record listing site says.
BREAKING! Poloniex (ETHW), will become the FIRST cryptocurrency exchange to support EthereumPoW. @Poloniex @justinsuntron
1/n pic.twitter.com/h6M9Pxv5lZ— ETHPoW (@EthereumPoW) August 3, 2022
The cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex, backed by Tron’s Justin Sun, has announced that the trading platform will list ETHW. Sun tweeted Poloniex about listing ETHW. Sun then retweeted Sun’s announcement to his 3,3 million Twitter followers. “The Ethereum Merge is expected to be in September 2022,” the exchange wrote. “Poloniex was the world’s first exchange to list ETH and now the first one to support potential forking of ETH with the listing of two potential forked ETH tokens: ETHS & ETHW.”
Poloniex Led the Charge During ETC’s Creation
Poloniex was also the first exchange to listEthereum Classic (ETC). In now-deleted tweet, one of the members of the Slock.it development team, Stephan Tual, remarked about Poloniex “leading the charge.” At the time, the Poloniex ‘troll-box’ was going wild and the exchange saw roughly $11.89 million in ETC trade volume on July 24, 2016. While it has experienced a number of 51% attack hiccups, ETC still exists today as it’s currently the 19th largest crypto asset in terms of market valuation. Chandler Guo speaks with Bloomberg. talkedLearn more about the benefits of ETHW over ETC.
Ethereum Classic was born at ETH block height 1,920,000. Ethereum Classic has reaped the benefits of the planned-in Merge date. It has increased 51.2% in the past two weeks and ETC jumped 148.5% over the past 30 days. ETC has also seen a slight hashrate increase but during the last week, ETC’s hashrate rise has tapered off. ETC maintaineders stated that Ethash miners were welcomed to the Ethereum Classic ecosystem months before this latest hashrate surge.
fwiw. Our full support for ETH PoS is in addition ETC. ETC should be used by ETH miners to increase their long-term revenue. It’s that simple
— Barry Silbert (@BarrySilbert) August 6, 2022
Bitmex Research: ‘It Is Likely That the Chain Is Extended Past the Merge Point, However, Whether or Not This Chain Has Any Economic Significance Is an Open Question’
Furthermore, on August 1, Bitmex Research published a blog post called “ETHPoW vs ETH2,” which examines a hypothetical debate over the two potential Ethereum networks. The blog post, written by Bitmex Research, concludes “by arguing that although the ETHPoW chain may have many technical challenges and its long term viability is in question, its existence may provide an exciting opportunity for traders and speculators in the short to medium term.”
Huobi Global, along with Poloniex will be listing any forks that may have been created after The Merge. Huobi will give out forked assets to those who meet certain requirements. When Poloniex releases the “Potential forked” token markets next week, it will be interesting to see what traders and speculators value the ETHW token. It’s quite possible the futures markets could overshadow ETC’s recent gains.
Is it possible for an ETHW ETHW to split from Ethereum? Leave your comments below to share your thoughts on the subject.
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