As a reminder, even its creator Vitalik Buterin has previously stated the likelihood of offshoots of the mainstream Ethereum blockchain. Basically, it comes down to whether ETH miners will continue to keep the cryptocurrency’s PoW network running. And since mining ether on video cards is quite lucrative even in the current coin market conditions, they are clearly interested in it.

Cryptocurrency miner

However, while miners are clearly willing to create blocks on Eth and beyond, large companies are not interested in supporting both versions of the blockchain in the event of a fork. And it’s not a matter of reluctance: it’s simply that the same issuers of Stablecoin are required to guarantee the availability of coin collateral – and that’s billions of dollars to be found. As such, it’s not surprising that some giants are already talking about wanting to interact only with the PoS network of Ethereum.

What’s next for Etherium

Here’s a quote from Circle’s announcement about the merger on the Etherium blockchain.

We recognise our responsibility for the Etherium ecosystem, the crypto business, the developers and the end users who depend on USDC. That’s why we want to go about it the right way.

According to Decrypt’s sources, USDC is the second most capitalised cryptocurrency and a vital part of decentralised finance. The latter, by the way, is still predominantly based on Ether.

USD Coin capitalisation

Why is support for the issuer of Stablecoin so important? The whole point is that if a fork occurs during the merger, there will be two blockchains – the new PoS-based Ethereum and a separate blockchain on the old Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus algorithm. As we have already noted, keeping Etherium on PoW is beneficial for miners, as the Proof-of-Stake algorithm does not provide for ETH mining at all. There, validators maintain the network and ensure its security.

Therefore, miners are actively lobbying to promote the PoW fork, with even some major trading platforms already starting to shed futures before the new blockchain emerges. Circle, on the other hand, does not intend to speculate on the future of the most popular altcoin. Company representatives continue.

While we are not speculating on the possibility of forks following the merger, USDC as an asset based on Etherium can only exist as a single valid “version”. As stated earlier, our only plan is to fully support an updated Ethereum blockchain on PoS.

Futures for the PoW fork of Etherium are already trading on BitMEX

Since every Stablecoin token must be backed by a real currency or asset to maintain parity against the dollar, Circle simply has to choose just one of the blockchains to support. Still, at the time of the merger, if the PoW fork of Ether goes ahead, USDC tokens will be active on both that network and the Etherium network on PoS. Naturally, Circle cannot magically double the amount of real funds to provide, so it’s all about choosing just one blockchain.

Etherium exchange rate

The same statement holds true for any other Ethereum-based stackcoin issuer – and that includes Tether. The company follows Circle by also announcing a full commitment specifically to the PoS version of the altcoin, according to Cointelegraph. In a fresh announcement, Tether representatives called the merger “one of the most significant developments in blockchain history” with the following quote.

Tether believes that in order to avoid any problems in the community, especially with the use of our tokens in projects and DeFi-platforms, it is important that the move to PoS is not used as a weapon to confuse and harm the ecosystem. Tether will closely monitor the progress and preparations for this event and will support the PoS version of Etherium.

Tether capitalisation (USDT)

Given the capitalisation of these Stablecoins and their dominance in the market, the demonstration of support for the PoS version of Etherium in this case should lead to a smooth transition of the cryptocurrency to the new consensus algorithm without any problems.

The popular cryptocurrency exchange Binance, on the other hand, has not been as forthright in its statements. As it became known yesterday, the platform will consider listing the PoW fork of Etherium should it form. However, this will not happen immediately. Here is the relevant quote from representatives of the exchange.

For the protection of Binance users, all forked tokens will go through the same rigorous pre-listing vetting process that is relevant for any other coin or token on Binance.

From this, we can conclude that if a new coin becomes available, trading venues will support transactions with it. And that makes sense, because that way they will secure additional trading volumes and receive commissions for doing so.


We believe that the unequivocal reluctance of major issuers to support the PoW version of the Etherium network should it emerge is quite predictable, as they would have to find tens of billions of dollars to provide the new version of the asset. Consequently, once the life of the fork starts, its capabilities will be more limited. It does, however, open up opportunities for other projects that are not yet in serious demand. And if PoW-based ETH lasts long enough, there will be plenty of new projects based on it, too.