Coinbase says it will list potential post-merger forked tokens after Ethereum
As the much-anticipated Ethereum “merge” upgrade approaches, the possibility of a fork is more likely, although the chances of success are slim.
Recently, exchanges including Coinbase have announced plans to consider listing forked tokens.
In an updated blog post on Thursday, crypto exchange Coinbase stated that it will consider potential forked Ethereum tokens that could come after the merger.
According to the blog post, Coinbase said the goal is to “list all assets that are legal and safe to list, so we create a level playing field for all the new assets being created in crypto, while continuing to protect our customers.”
If an Ethereum proof-of-work fork occurs after the merger, “this asset will be assessed with the same rigor as any other asset listed on our exchange,” Coinbase said.
If such a fork happens, Coinbase said it will determine which chain — proof of stake or miners’ proof of work — retains the value.
This is important, as support from Coinbase and other major crypto-related firms can make or break the success of such forked chains and their tokens.
In early August, Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin acknowledged the fork that could occur as a result of the “merge” upgrade. He noted, “If a proof-of-work fork becomes big, then there are definitely a lot of applications that will have to choose one way or the other.”
While Buterin was not concerned about a potential fork, he was concerned about fraud targeting retail investors during the merger transition. Users may confuse forked chains named after Ethereum, as it may not be clear whether such chains are properly associated with Ethereum.
Coinbase acknowledges this in its blog post: “It is important to always be on the lookout for fraud, but especially leading up to the merger. We recommend that you do not send ETH to anyone in an attempt to “upgrade to ETH2″, as there is no ETH2 token… [N]o action is required to upgrade on your part.”
Other big changes likely to happen with Ethereum
If a fork happens, it will likely lead to the creation of new ETH tokens. In addition to Coinbase, many other exchanges, such as Binance, have recently said they will consider any new coins.
Friday 26 Augustth, Binance said it is “monitoring” the merger and will support it at launch. The exchange revealed its plans to support the Proof-of-Stake version of ETH as the crucial update approaches, and also welcomes the listing of other ETH-related fork tokens.
Just like Coinbase and Binance, other crypto firms such as stablecoin giants Circle and Tether, and decentralized exchanges Uniswap Labs have signaled support only for the Ethereum proof-of-stake chain.
Ethereum’s “Merge” update is widely considered to be one of the biggest crypto events in recent years. The Ethereum merger is expected to take place on or around September 15th. During this event, the Ethereum blockchain is expected to undergo the upgrade, which will combine the Ethereum network with the proof-of-stake beacon chain – the network will move away from the proof-of-work mechanism.
The upgrade will move the network to a new consensus mechanism that relies on validators instead of miners. The shift could mark the end of Ethereum mining, which Ether (ETH) miners are not happy about because their source of income will end.
Therefore, this group of miners and other like-minded crypto community members, including TRON founder Justin Sun and established miner Chandler Gou, among others, have endorsed a plan for a hard fork that maintains the status quo – post-merger Ethereum fork to create what they call “ ETHPoW” (the proof-of-work version of Ethereum).
Cryptominers and like-minded groups are hopeful that the Ethereum merger with the hard fork will create “ETHPoW.” With this, miners will retain the ability to mine Ethereum.
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