Bitfinex has announced the launch of a new service available to users ahead of the Ethereum Merge. The Ethereum Chain Split Tokens (CSTs) will be available to users, representing the two networks involved in the Merge. These include the Ethereum proof-of-work tokens and Ethereum proof-of-stake tokens.
Bitfinex launches new split tokens ahead of Merge
Bitfinex launched these new trading tokens to allow users to trade as they await the possibility of a forking event from those who do not support the Merge. The coins will be offered through the Bitfinex derivatives platform.
The chief technology officer at Bitfinex, Paolo Ardoino, commented on the development saying that these tokens were released to prepare users for all possibilities as the Merge nears. However, these tokens are not for life, and they will have an expiration date at the end of the year.
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The exchange has also said that these tokens could help users in three different ways to prepare for the Merge. If a consensus fails to be reached in changing the PoW chain, ETHS will expire, and Ether will be distributed to the ETHW holders. However, if consensus is achieved, the ETHW will expire, and Ether will be exchanged for EHS.
When the consensus change is successful and a fork happens, the ETHW and ETHS tokens will be exchanged for ETH. The Ethereum Merge is slated to happen in mid-September, and the industry is already at the edge because of this news. Ethereum users want to see whether the Merge would happen during the timeframe given by the developers.
Concern over Ethereum Merge
The Ethereum Merge has been delayed multiple times before. Some decentralized finance protocols, such as Aave, have urged users to commit to the Ethereum PoS network ahead of the Merge. However, there has been some resistance from the Ethereum community.
The Merge will transition Ethereum from a PoW network to PoS. Therefore, miners on the Ethereum blockchain will become obsolete after the Merge. Some of the large mining pools have already started moving towards staking.
However, some Ethereum miners have resisted the Merge, with some saying that they will fork the Ethereum blockchain to retain the PoW algorithm. While some exchanges have already announced they are open to supporting Ethereum forks, there has been growing skepticism from the community on whether such a network would receive any adoption from developers.
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