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Is an Ethereum chain split after Merge coming? Survey shows a majority expect a smooth transition

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08
Aug
  • The price of Ethereum Classic (ETC) has soared by over 170 percent since last month.
  • Vitalik Buterin predicts when Ethereum (ETH) will be priced-in.

A recent survey by the crypto hedge fund, Galois Capital, revealed that many expect two parallel chains to exist following the Ethereum Merge. 33.1 percent of the polled audience believe there would be an ETHPoW (Ethereum proof-of-work) chain and an ETHPoS (Ethereum proof-of-stake) chain.

However, many respondents are convinced that the network’s switch to a pos network will be smooth. Nevertheless, some Redditors argue that an ETHPoW won’t fly since it would be similar to the Ethereum Classic. They also argue that the new ETHPoW won’t attract users, and even the users it would attract would later dump it for the ETHPoS.

Recall that the current Ethereum chain came into existence in 2016 due to an argument over the reversal of a $60 million exploit. Thus, the chain split into Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC). Respondents to the Galois Capital survey also believe exchanges and projects (including Tether) won’t support ETHPoW if a hard fork should happen. Instead, they would support the ETHPoS.

Meanwhile, there has been a decline in Ethereum’s network hash rate since reaching peak levels in May 2022. This decline indicates that miners have started preparing for life after the Merge. It could also mean they are making moves to become stakers in the Ethereum pos chain. Data from tom’s hardware GPU pricing index confirms miners’ moves to exit the Ethereum network. The data showed an increase in GPU sales on the secondary market despite a decrease in demand.

Support for Ethereum forks

After popular Chinese miner, Chandler Guo, revealed that he would fork the Ethereum chain to create an ETHPoW. Justin Sun’s crypto exchange (Poloniex) announced it would list and support any hard fork from the Ethereum chain. Guo has been vocal on social media, stating that the forked ETH would be a strong rival for the ETHPoS.

The China-based miner isn’t new to Ethereum forks. He was one of the vocal voices that supported the 2016 Ethereum fork, which led to the creation of the Ethereum Classic (ETC) token. Meanwhile, the ETC price rose by over 200 percent last month after increasing from $15 to more than $40.

Still, ETC is a small project compared to Ethereum. As of June 2022, its daily active addresses was 53,000, a stark contrast to Ethereum’s 763,000. Many analysts predict that ETC is at risk of a “sell the news” event following the Merge. They explain that the price spike is speculative mainly because there are only a handful of projects on the chain.

Vitalik Buterin predicts the time Ethereum (ETH) will be priced-in after the Merge

According to Ethereum co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, it would be up to ten years before a massive transformation in Ethereum and the entire crypto space. The Merge will enhance crypto payments adoption and new cases. This would be possible through the Surge and Verge upgrades that will happen after the Merge.

Due to scaling and better efficiency, transaction fees will be as low as $0.05. These upgrades will lead to scaling with layer-2 ZK-Rollups and blockchain compression with Merkle trees. Buterin made the revelations during his speech at this year’s Korea blockchain week event.

He further claimed that the Merge would make promising applications possible and practicable. Buterin also said that it would take up to 8 months before the Ethereum upgrade is priced in psychologically and in market terms following the Merge. According to him, this is the period the clean-up phase will take.

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