Ethereum PoW Hard Fork Picks Up Steam Ahead of the Merge

As the Ethereum Merge upgrade draws even closer, it has become apparent that a hard fork will occur in the blockchain. As the chain transitions to a Proof-of-Stake validation mechanism, Proof-of-Work believers are creating a new fork called EthereumPOW (ETHW).

On September 12, the ETHW development team announced that the “ETHW mainnet will happen within 24 hours after The Merge.” The website of ETHW noted that the “exact time will be announced 1 hour before launch with a countdown timer and everything including final code, binaries, config files, nodes info, RPC, explorer, etc. will be made public when the time’s up.”

The ETHW team has also published open letters to believers of a PoW Ethereum blockchain, and a blog post released on August 29 outlines some of the project’s aims. The ETHW development team further explained that the group consists of “geeks and crypto investors from all over the world,” adding that they are choosing to stay anonymous for the time being.

Explaining the rationale behind their efforts, the post detailed that blockchain regulation is “ever-increasing” and that “Web3 narratives are under serious strain.” The core developers further narrated:

“PoS is indeed a game changer, but only in bad ways. Nevertheless, PoW has a 12-year track record of being reliable, robust, and censorship-resistant. It is only prudent to continue a PoW Ethereum, which should be a no-brainer for those who champion openness and the free market as there is no downside.”

All Ethereum Holders are Entitled to the New Token After the Merge

The creation of this Ethereum fork means all ETH holders are entitled to airdropped ETHW tokens once it’s ready. Ethereum holders in crypto exchanges will receive the airdrop only if the platform recognizes and supports the new token.