ETHPoW, the token that will run on a potential Ethereum PoW fork, fell to an all-time low of US$50.36 on Thursday, down 64% from its Aug. 2 peak, according to CoinMarketCap.
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Fast facts
- The ETHPoW token is currently only in IOU status – meaning that it is only a debt contract sold in advance and will only become an official token once the blockchain is enabled. The token was down 6.3% over the past 24 hours at US$52.46 at 01:40 p.m. Hong Kong time, signaling less interest from traders.
- BitMEX pointed out in a research report that the potential proof-of-work (PoW) fork will be highly speculative, because once the ETHPoW fork becomes a reality, Ether holders will get the same amount of ETHPoW token on the PoW fork chain and can profit from selling the ETHPoW tokens.
- Cryptocurrency exchanges Poloniex and MEXC Global said in August that they would continue to support token trading related to Ethereum’s PoW fork. The crypto derivatives platform BitMEX even launched a futures contract for ETHPoW.
- The Ethereum Merge is expected around Sept.15 and will move the network to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism from PoW.
- The event sparked resistance from Ethereum miners, as the transition would strip the lucrative mining that relies on PoW mechanisms. Miners are banding together and forking Ethereum to keep the PoW mechanism in order to continue the mining business.
- But Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said a PoW fork is unlikely to have substantial, long-term adoption, and the people involved are just a “couple of outsiders that basically have exchanges, and mostly just want to make a quick buck.”
See related article: USDC, Tether announce support for Ethereum proof-of-stake