Poloniex CEO Supports Ethereum Proof-of-work Hard Fork

• ETH miners demand a hard fork to keep the PoW version of Ethereum 
• The Poloniex exchange has stated that it supports this idea and has already announced the listing of two tokens – ETHS and ETHW
• Users can exchange ether for them at the rate of 1:1 from August 8

This week, major Chinese ETH miner Chandler Guo publicly criticized the ecosystem’s transition to PoS. He urged users to stay on the old algorithm and said he was preparing a hard fork. The CEO of the Poloniex crypto exchange, one of the largest Ethereum holders, noted that he supports this idea. 

“The planned date for The Merge is September 2022. Poloniex was the first exchange in the world to list ETH. We now support splitting Ether into two possible tokens – ETHS and ETHW,” the company said in a statement . 

“Merger” is the transition of Ethereum to Proof-of-Stake, which will “put an end to” the miners. A hard fork could partially solve this problem by creating two separate ecosystems. 

Poloniex has about a million ETH in its assets. This is one of the largest holders. The exchange says that in the event of a fork, it will buy back some of the ETHW to create a new community. 

Starting from August 8, both tokens will appear in the platform listing. You can exchange ETH for ETHW or ETHS at the rate of 1:1. 

“We have seen how PoW has become a key driver of ecosystem scaling. Therefore, we will continue to support this community and any potential hard fork,” said Justin Sun, CEO of the exchange.

The reaction of the crypto community

Among the commentators, there are enough those who reacted to the idea with understanding. For example, EPNS founder Harsh Rajat commented on the initiative:

“The beauty of decentralization is that everything depends on the network effect. If you feel like you can do better, just do it. I certainly support merging and moving to PoS, but the very principle of open source means that people can make something of their own with even the slightest support from the community.”

Others point out that this is a marketing gimmick:

“Do you want PoW? Well, such a version already exists – Ethereum Classic (ETC).” 

Still, others have criticized the idea of ​​a fork, noting that this is a “ step back ” for the industry and the ecosystem. 

If you want to know more about what awaits Ethereum after the merger, we recommend that you study our material on this topic.