Key Miner Plans to Derail ETH’s Transition to Proof-of-Stake

The Ethereum Merge – the term used to describe Ethereum’s transition from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) – is getting closer to realisation, possibly by mid-September.

However, according to one prominent figure in the Ethereum community, Chandler Guo, a new PoW version of ETH is “coming soon”.

Last week, Chinese crypto miner Guo tweeted about the advent of a PoW ETH, despite the already existing ETC (Ethereum Classic), which Guo was part of. He proclaimed: “I fork[ed] Ethereum once, I will fork it again!”

The plan is gaining traction on Crypto Twitter, though many in the Ethereum community remain confused and had mixed reactions. Some of them stated there was no need for a new PoW:

Huobi, Poloniex Back a Possible ETH Fork

It seems several high-profile players in the industry are supporting the idea of an ETH fork, including the Justin Sun-backed crypto exchange Poloniex, and Huobi.

Sun tweeted about his intention to donate over 1 million ETH if Guo carried out his plan, saying: “We are willing to continue to support the development of the community.”

Many users inquired about Tether’s (USDT) involvement regarding an ETH fork, with Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino clearly outlining Tether’s support for the Merge:

It’s not about what I/we prefer between PoW/PoS. Stablecoins should act responsibly and avoid disruption for users. Especially for DeFi, it’s really delicate.

Paolo Ardoino, CTO, Tether