key takeaways
- Binance plans to credit users’ accounts with tokens from any forked versions of Ethereum created during the network’s merger.
- In such a case, Binance will continue to use the ticker “ETH” to represent the planned proof-of-stake version of Ethereum.
- Binance also confirmed that it will suspend deposits and withdrawals for ETH and ERC-20 tokens in the lead-up to the merger in order to protect users’ funds.
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Binance also plans to use the ticker “ETH” for the planned proof-of-stake version of Ethereum.
Binance Offers Merge Update
Binance is preparing for a possible Ethereum fork.
The major crypto exchange announced on Thursday that it plans to credit users’ accounts with tokens from any forked version of Ethereum created during a network merge event scheduled for 15 September.
In a notice, the exchange outlined a possible scenario where Ethereum splits into two competing chains, creating a new token. In such a case, Binance will continue to use the “ETH” ticker to represent the planned proof-of-stake Ethereum, which most crypto companies and the DeFi protocol have said they will support.
However, the exchange also plans to credit users’ accounts with tokens from the forked Ethereum chain, should this be created. “We … credit users’ Binance accounts forked tokens from the minority chain in a 1:1 ratio, based on a snapshot of the ETH balance prior to the Paris execution layer upgrade,” the notice said.
Binance also said that it will support withdrawals for any potential Ethereum fork. However, the forked token will go through the same strict listing review process as the exchange does for any other coin or token.
In the same announcement, Binance also confirmed that it will suspend deposits and withdrawals for ETH and ERC-20 tokens on 6 September in preparation for the network’s Bellatrix consensus layer upgrade, and again on 15 September, when the main merger takes place. The event is about to happen. place. Other exchanges such as Coinbase have said they will take similar precautionary measures to prevent users from losing funds in the form of network upgrades.
The merge is arguably the most significant update to the Ethereum network to date and is the culmination of years of work from its developers. While most Ethereum stakeholders welcome the move from energy-intensive proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanisms to green proof-of-stake (PoS), a dedicated group of holdouts are against the update. In recent weeks, people against Ethereum’s switch to PoS have talked about forking the network, creating a competitive version of the blockchain that still uses the older PoW consensus. Whether there will be enough support to fork Ethereum when the merge next month remains to be seen.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this article owns ETH and several other cryptocurrencies.