ETHPoW, the Ethereum hard fork blockchain intended to preserve proof-of-work after the native chain transitioned to proof-of-stake, is facing technical difficulties despite months of anticipation.
See related article: Ethereum says Merge upgrade successfully completed, more to come
Fast facts
- Prior to the fork, it was announced that ETHW tokens would be airdropped to Ethereum holders. However, confusion and scams were reported almost immediately after the chain went live, followed by a sharp price drop.
- At least one issue appeared to be ETHPoW’s new Chain ID. Blockchains use Chain IDs as an identifier that points to a unique network, and ETHPoW needed a new ID to separate data from its digital transactions from that of the proof-of-stake chain.
- ETHPoW’s updated Chain ID from the original Ethereum network is the code 10001. However, that ID had already been taken by the Testnet token, Smart Bitcoin Cash, according to ChainList.
- The repeated Chain ID resulted in error messages from MetaMask cryptocurrency wallets when trying to add the new network: “The network with chain ID 10001 may use a different currency symbol (BCHT) than the one you have entered. Please verify before continuing,” a message from the wallet read.
- This error message could be clicked through, but it caused confusion online with scammers posing as ‘MetaMask support’ offering to fix the issue. The owner of EthereumPoW’s telegram channel announced that other technical issues were addressed last night.
- Many holders that did receive the new tokens have appeared to sell it off quickly. After the network went live, the price of the ETHW token, which only a handful of exchanges are listing, was down over 68% in the past 24 hours to US$13, according to data from CoinMarketCap at 1 pm Hong Kong time.
See related article: Ethereum’s last PoW and first PoS NFTs minted for 67.5 ETH