Another crypto exchange signals support for Miner-Led Ethereum Hard Fork

Like Ethereum’s long-awaited move to proof of effort finally approachingcrypto exchanges are weighing whether or not to support growing efforts to resist the transition.

Today, another exchange has decided that the move might be worth it.

Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitrue announced today that it will support a token linked to ETHW – the proof-of-work version of Ethereum that “merging resistors” will attempt to create by discarding Ethereum blockchain at the time of the merger.

The Ethereum merger, which is now expected to take place around September 15, refers to a protocol update that will combine Ethereum the main network with the proof-of-stake beacon chain – the final step in completing the network’s transition away from proof of work. That shift also marks the end of mining on Ethereum, which ETH miners are not too happy about, hence the increasing demands for a hard fork which maintains the status quo.

Via an exchange and IOU mechanism, Bitrue will make an ETHW token available to all current ETH holders on its platform. The trading platform, which according to data from CoinGecko ranks 20th among crypto exchanges worldwide and accounts for more than $1.5 billion in 24-hour trading volume, will also create a token representing the new proof-of-stake version of ETH which is to exist if and when the merger takes place later next month.

Both tokens will be made available in advance of the merger; if the hard fork planned by merge opponents fails, and ETHW never materializes, all ETHW on Bitrue’s platform will automatically be converted to post-merge, proof-of-stake ETH.

“Bitrue has always been about providing users with unparalleled choice,” said Bitrue Chief Marketing Officer Adam O’Neill, in a statement to Decrypt. “[That] can be seen not only in the thousands of trading pairs available on the exchange right now, but also in our actions to offer unique and new financial products.”

In recent weeks, other crypto exchanges – including Justin Sun’s – have Poloniex, Huobiand BitMEX—have all launched ETHW-linked financial products. Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, has not ruled out supporting ETHW.

Other major crypto companies, including Circle and Tether (providers of the two largest stablecoins, USDC and USDT respectively) have said they refuse to support ETHW in any form.

The campaign to create ETHW started earlier this month at the behest of prominent Chinese cryptominer Chandler Guo. Guo and other cryptominers have until now enjoyed significant income from mining Ethereum via an energy-intensive process that involves directing massive amounts of computing power to difficult tasks.

However, the merger will bring ETH mining to an end by transitioning Ethereum to a faster, more scalable proof-of-stake model, where new ETH is created by pledging large amounts of existing ETH.

Guo and other miners are hopeful that by forking hard the Ethereum blockchain will retain the ability to mine Ethereum (albeit another form of cryptocurrency).

More experts previously told Decrypt that ETHW is highly unlikely to approach the market value of Ethereum, thus significantly limiting the potential profitability of mining the new cryptocurrency. For these experts, the only thing ETHW is likely to achieve is to undermine the merger’s legitimacy in the short term.