The prominent Japanese crypto exchange platform, BitBank, recently said that it has not made a decision on whether or not to list Ethereum Proof-of-Work. The firm said it needs to make a proper assessment of possible regulatory risks before it makes a decision on if it will list the asset or not.
New Chain Gained Traction Initially
Some cryptocurrency miners created an alternative proof-of-work protocol for Ethereum while the Merge draws close. It was created early this month, August.
At first, the newly created Ethereum proof-of-work protocol attracted users and gained some level of traction. Poloniex was part of the very first crypto exchanges to give it support by making it available to investors. BitMEX equally unveiled a futures smart contract for the token’s proof-of-work.
The long-awaited Merge is now finally set to take place in the middle of September. It will be the complete transition of Ethereum from a proof-of-stake protocol to a proof-of-work.
It is said that Ethereum miners will then be left in limbo and they will suffer a huge financial loss. Ethereum stakers are set to be fully responsible for security on the network once the Merge is concluded.
In spite of the large support and interest secured in the early days of August, the proof-of-work token lost its value in the days leading to the Merge. The asset is presently selling at $50.56 as reported by CoinMarketCap.
Buterin’s Endorsement
It should be noted that the Ethereum proof-of-work asset is not been fully launched yet. Proponents of the proof-of-work hope that they can successfully fork the original chain in the course of the major event.
Some exchanges want to list the asset preemptively so they can capitalize on the publicity and make the most out of it. An Ethereum miner, Guo Chandler, who leads the operation to fork Ethereum’s chain took to Twitter earlier in the month to say that the Ethereum proof-of-work will be coming soon.
It is expected that the newly forked chain will find it difficult to get sufficient support. This is because the co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, already gave his endorsement to the Ethereum Classic. Buterin’s claim is that the Ethereum Classic is a fine chain.
It is said that the coming Merge will improve Ethereum’s scalability, security, and ease of operation. The new merger to a proof-of-stake protocol will make Ethereum mining more power-efficient than the current proof-of-work.