Ethereum (ETH) is well on its way to move to Proof-of-Stake (PoS). But ETH miners aren’t exactly happy about that. They want a hard fork of the network, so that they don’t have to completely change their business model. However, Ethereum co-designer Vitalik Buterin is skeptical of the idea.
Resistance of ETH Miners to PoS
The “merge” is scheduled to take place next September, merging the beta chain using PoS with the mainnet. After that, Ethereum needs to be more efficient and leave its past as a Proof-of-Work network behind. But that would also mean that all Ethereum miners would become unemployed. Or at least, the existing infrastructure is then completely superfluous. Putting transactions on the blockchain can then be done with much simpler hardware.
Of course, many miners have more than enough resources to make their own validator act and confirm transactions on the network once it has transitioned to Proof-of-Stake. But apparently many of them aren’t too happy about this. That writes Bloombergwhich reports that work is underway on forks that copy the software from the current network.
One such planned fork is called EthereumPOW. This was set up by Hongcai Guo, a Chinese programmer and investor who previously worked for a large miner in China. Several Chinese manufacturers of ETH mining hardware have asked him to start a fork. Existing ETH holders will receive new tokens after the fork, Guo said in an interview with Bloomberg. “Everyone gets free money, then everyone is happy,” he declared.
Hive Blockchain is also considering switching, according to Bloomberg, although this company would like to mine ethereum classic (ETC). That network still uses Proof-of-Work.
Vitalik Buterin is skeptical
But Vitalik Buterin is not convinced. In a webinar with Bloomberg he stated that everyone in the Ethereum ecosystem with whom he speaks is very positive about the move to the new consensus mechanism. “The ecosystem is very much in agreement on this,” he emphasized.
Chris Kyle of miner consultant Flexpool thinks it is possible to make a successful fork, although he emphasizes that many networks are based on hype and offer little value. If a famous person were behind the fork, he thinks a good fork is a possibility.