Summary:
- The plan to fork Ethereum’s proof-of-work network now has a timeline.
- EthereumPoW, the team behind the initiative, said the ETHW Mainnet would go live 24 hours after the merge.
- Full node data and configurations would be released shortly as well.
- The community announced the news as Ethereum’s proof-of-stake transition is hours away.
Ethereum proof-of-work (PoW) otherwise known as ETHW revealed on Monday that the mainnet launch would be deployed 24 hours after the merge, Ethereum’s pivot from the energy-intensive PoW consensus to the more efficient proof-of-stake mechanism.
At the mainnet launch, the ETHW network would become public to users and signal a second Ethereum hard-forked chain.
Ethereum Classic (ETC), the first ETH forked chain, was launched in 2016 after “The DAO Hack” occurred on the original Ethereum network. Notably, ETC already leverages a PoW mechanism.
ETHW’s announcement added the PoW mainnet launch would take place at block height 58,750,002,048, 2048 empty blocks above the merge block. According to the thread regarding the news, the extra blocks were agreed on to ensure the forked chainID switches correctly.
The move would create a hard fork of Ethereum’s blockchain as it is at press time and maintain an ecosystem where ETH miners remain a key component of the network. Notably, the merge transitions Ethereum to a PoS consensus and essentially replaces miners with stakers.
While the PoS upgrade has received support from Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin and other crypto proponents, the controversial ETHW boasts its support as well. Prominent ETH miner Chandler Guo and Tron founder Justin Sun have voiced backing for an ETHW hard fork.
ETHW Unveils Timelines Days Before The Merge
Anticipation has built around the merge which is expected to kick in sometime this week. Core developers and The Ethereum Foundation previously revealed that the switch would be marked by an upgrade dubbed Paris.
Paris is scheduled to initiate when Ethereum’s blockchain hits a Terminal Total Difficulty of 58,750,000,000. Developers estimate the TTD to arrive around September 15.
