Katherine Ross

<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/celsius" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Celsius</a> is suing StakeHound to recover $150 million in ether (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/eth">ETH</a>), polygon (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/matic">MATIC</a>) and polkadot (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/dot">DOT</a>).



The lender, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/celsius-to-file-for-bankruptcy-imminently-report" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">which declared bankruptcy in July last year</a>, claims StakeHound was entrusted with 25,000 native ETH ($47 million) in January 2021, and 35,000 native ETH ($65.9 million) in February of that same year.



However, StakeHound’s third-party security provider allegedly lost the private keys associated with the 35,000 native ETH from February.&nbsp;



StakeHound allegedly claimed that “because keys associated with the 35,000 Celsius ETH (plus Rewards) had been misplaced, StakeHound not only was relieved of its obligation to return those tokens, StakeHound also was no longer required to return the 25,000 Celsius ETH (plus Rewards) in their entirety.”



Two years earlier, Celsius entrusted StakeHound with 40 million MATIC ($29.1 million) as well 66,000 DOT ($342,000). StakeHound, in return, issued customers “stTokens.”



In their recent <a href="https://cases.stretto.com/public/x191/11749/PLEADINGS/1174907122380000000014.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">filing</a>, Celsius lawyers maintain the tokens were only locked until the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ethereum-validators-withdraw-620m-eth" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Shapella fork</a> activated ETH withdrawals earlier this year. &#8220;The staked native ETH tokens were locked and unavailable for withdrawal by anyone until the occurrence of a long-awaited ‘upgrade’ to the Ethereum blockchain, an event which happened on or around April 12, 2023.&#8221;



As for the MATIC and DOT, Celsius allegedly demanded StakeHound return the native tokens in May of this year “in exchange for the corresponding stTokens issued by StakeHound. However, StakeHound never responded to the letter and the tokens that it failed to return are now &#8216;worth at least in excess of $150 million.'&#8221;



“StakeHound should be required to immediately turn over Celsius’ property, pay compensatory damages arising from its breaches of contractual and other duties, and damages, sanctions and attorneys’ fees associated with StakeHound’s wilful misconduct,” the lawsuit said.



In late June, Celsius <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/celsius-can-sell-convert-assets" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">received court approval to convert tokens</a> to <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc">BTC</a> and ETH, with plans to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/voyager-celsius-crypto-withdrawals" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">make customers whole</a> following a year of bankruptcy proceedings.



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Celsius sues StakeHound to recoup $150M MATIC, ETH and DOT

Sebastian Sinclair

Polygon (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/matic" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MATIC</a>) is mounting a comeback this month following a poor showing throughout most of the year.



The native token for the popular Ethereum scaling network was up 12% in July as of Tuesday afternoon. Bitcoin (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/eth">BTC</a>) was about flat and ether (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/eth">ETH</a>) had dropped 3.2%&nbsp;



Cryptocurrencies tied to layer-2 solutions Arbitrum (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/arb">ARB</a>) and Optimism (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/op">OP</a>) had respectively sunk 3.5% and 8.9% over the same period.



MATIC’s comparatively strong performance could stem from speculation about a major network update, <a href="https://polygon.technology/roadmap" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Polygon 2.0</a>, according to a FalconX research note.



“The Polygon upgrade is the most relevant technical announcement in the industry at the moment,” David Lawant, the firm’s head of research, said.&nbsp;



“We expect MATIC to keep closing its gap versus peers as more details of the upgrade roadmap become more apparent to the market.”



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="900" height="400" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/unnamed.png" alt="" class="wp-image-61456" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/unnamed.png?w=900 900w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/unnamed.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/unnamed.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/unnamed.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/unnamed.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/unnamed.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/unnamed.png?w=80 80w" sizes="(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">MATIC has enjoyed a healthy July</figcaption></figure>



The update is labeled a “vision for unlimited scalability and unified liquidity, powered by Zero-Knowledge technology,” per the <a href="https://polygon.technology/roadmap" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">project’s roadmap</a>.



Polygon Labs, the primary studio behind Polygon, collaborated with developers, researchers, node operators, validators and other stakeholders as part of its process.



Polygon 2.0 is expected in a number of phases with the first geared towards establishing what’s dubbed a &#8220;value layer,” mirroring how the “<a href="https://polygon.technology/blog/introducing-polygon-2-0-the-value-layer-of-the-internet" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">rest of the internet operates</a>.” 



Architectural overhauls, including a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/polygon-pos-to-validium" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">validium</a>, are intended to reduce costs and boost transaction throughput. There’s also plans to revamp tokenomics and governance processes, FalconX noted.



Zooming out, though, and MATIC still has a ways to catch up. 



Despite outperforming most of the market directly following <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ftx-this-week" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the FTX scandal</a> last November, MATIC is down 3.2% over the year to date, underperforming against BTC, ETH, ARB and solana (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/sol">SOL</a>), all of which are up more than a third.



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Polygon 2.0 is crypto’s ‘most relevant technical announcement’: FalconX

James Cirrone

After unveiling Polygon 2.0 last week, Polygon Labs introduced a proposal to upgrade its proof-of-stake chain to a zkEVM validium, which it says would improve security and performance.&nbsp;



With Polygon 2.0, its developers signaled their intention <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/polygon-2-deployed-outside-us">to capture the “value layer” of the internet</a>. This proposal, they say, is an “important step” toward that goal.



With this proposed upgrade, the proof-of-stake, or PoS, chain now has a clear roadmap toward integrating zero-knowledge proofs into its infrastructure, a technology many believe is <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/zk-rollups-future-of-smart-contract-blockchains">the future of smart contract blockchains</a>. However, it’s important to note that this will be separate from <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/polygon-zkevm-live-on-ethereum">Polygon’s zkEVM</a> that it introduced in late March.



The proposal aims to tackle several problems faced by <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/polygon">Polygon</a> PoS, one of which is incredibly fast block times, which sounds like a positive. However, the speed ends up decreasing the efficiency of its gas estimation model, which sometimes causes gas price spikes, resulting in processing delays for users transactions.



The validium upgrade would fix that, as well as eliminate <a href="https://www.alchemy.com/overviews/what-is-a-reorg">chain reorgs</a> — a <a href="https://polygonscan.com/blocks_forked">common problem</a> on the Polygon PoS chain. The proposal says the PoS chain’s “legacy tech stack” <a href="https://wiki.polygon.technology/docs/pos/heimdall/overview">based on</a> forks of the Cosmos SDK for consensus and the Geth EVM <a href="https://wiki.polygon.technology/docs/pos/bor/overview">execution</a> client, implemented in 2020, is “suboptimal,” according to the <a href="https://forum.polygon.technology/t/pre-pip-discussion-upgrading-polygon-pos-to-a-zkevm-validium/12187">proposal</a>.



Using the Polygon’s zkEVM instead is the answer, the proposal argues. The current probabilistic consensus method will be scrapped in favor of a “decentralized validator/sequencer sets with deterministic, single block <a href="https://www.blockworksresearch.com/glossary#finality-settlement-finality">finality</a>.”&nbsp;



In a blog <a href="https://polygon.technology/blog/polygon-2-0-polygon-pos-zk-layer-2">post</a> announcing the proposal, Polygon Labs described validium as “the lower-cost, higher-throughput sibling of a rollup.”



The chief difference, one which the proposal describes as a “downside,” is that validiums maintain data availability outside of Ethereum. Polygon downplayed this difference because it can leverage an existing decentralized validator set from the PoS chain staking of <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/matic">MATIC</a>, Polygon’s native token.



Polygon Labs also told stakeholders that applications should remain operational and fees should stay just as low.



If consensus is reached among the community, implementation of the validium upgrade could happen by the first quarter of 2024, Polygon Labs said.



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Polygon wants to upgrade PoS chain to zkEVM validium

Rocket Pool, the Ethereum-based DeFi staking protocol, has just pushed a major update granting users instant access to ETH staking rewards moving forward.



Atlas, which launched without issue Monday evening, brings changes and features following the successful rollout of Ethereum’s Shapella upgrade last week. Shapella enabled ETH stakers to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ethereum-validators-withdraw-620m-eth" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">withdraw their crypto</a> for the first time.



This meant Rocket Pool could lower Ethereum staking amounts for its so-called “<a href="https://docs.rocketpool.net/guides/node/create-validator.html#choosing-a-bond-size">minipools</a>.” These tailored validator nodes now accept ETH stakes as small as 8 ETH ($16,800), down from 16 ETH ($33,600).&nbsp;



Staking individually to the Ethereum blockchain demands at least 32 ETH ($67,100). Rocket Pool also supports pooling of ETH to boost chances of earning greater rewards.



“Atlas has two themes, withdrawals and scaling Rocket Pool,” the team said in an Atlas <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD_sgUaDSno&amp;ab_channel=EthStaker" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">live stream</a>. “Node operators can now access their rewards they’ve generated over the last 14 months … if they want to, they can exit completely.”



Atlas brings with it automatic rewards distributions, a unified Grafana dashboard and support for an Ethereum consensus client known as Lodestar.



Rocket Pool users can separately stake any amount of ETH to receive a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/liquid-staking-derivatives-tvl" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">liquid staking derivative token</a>, rETH. Similar to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/eth-staking-providers-withdrawals" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">other staking services such as Lido</a>, Rocket Pool&#8217;s minipools and rETH let investors with less capital participate in the staking process to earn rewards otherwise out of reach.



Further changes made it easier to engage with the Ethereum blockchain by providing greater flexibility in Beacon Chain management, the team said.



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Rocket Pool Upgrade Lowers Ethereum Staking Cap to 8 ETH

Shalini Nagarajan

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers are again pushing a bill to keep key crypto infrastructure — such as validators and miners — from being considered brokers once and for all.



House Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry, Rep. Ritchie Torres, Majority Whip Tom Emmer and other lawmakers have reintroduced the Keep Innovation in America Act, according to a Tuesday <a href="https://emmer.house.gov/press-releases?id=D4FE4ACA-596E-4415-AFF0-7B21D5377D29" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a>.



It seeks to taper the definition of a broker to “any person who (for consideration) stands ready in the ordinary course of a trade or business to effect sales of digital assets at the direction of their customers.”



The Act, first introduced in 2021 and quickly referred to a House committee, is said to address the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s “poorly constructed digital asset reporting requirements.” President Joe Biden signed the infrastructure law in 2021.



“Miners and validators, hardware and software developers, and protocol developers are not actual brokers and do not collect or have reason to collect the information required under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.”



Most brokers must register with the SEC. The lawmakers say that potentially strenuous reporting requirements are threatening to push innovators overseas. They&#8217;ve also raised privacy concerns for regular citizens. 



Clarifying the definition of a broker to ensure that only those in the business of brokering are required to report would help solve the problem, per McHenry.



“The digital asset ecosystem holds tremendous potential to bring more Americans into our financial system and serve as the building blocks of the next generation of the internet,” McHenry said in a statement. “Unfortunately, misguided policy and regulatory overreach threatens to push this dynamic industry — and its potential benefits — overseas.”&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">America can either cement our position as the leader of the global financial system, or we can allow this wave of innovation to pass us by. I’m proud to lead this bipartisan legislation to provide desperately needed clarity for innovators and entrepreneurs. <a href="https://t.co/j1W9FckvO2">https://t.co/j1W9FckvO2</a>&mdash; Patrick McHenry (@PatrickMcHenry) <a href="https://twitter.com/PatrickMcHenry/status/1633193073089073152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 7, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Meanwhile, Rep. Torres said: “This common-sense legislation, which has earned the support of key industry and market participants, brings digital asset reporting requirements in line with the current ecosystem and offers much-needed legal and regulatory clarity to help cement our continued place as the global leader in crypto technology and innovation.”



The bill also states that China’s ban on crypto transactions paves the way for the US to enhance its role as the leading nation in the development of blockchain technology. It’s also not in the interest of American taxpayers to create uncertainty, the bill says.&nbsp;



“The nonsensical digital asset reporting requirements included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 will send crypto innovation and opportunities oversees, leaving the United States far behind in the global race to lead in the next phase of the digital economy,” said House Majority Whip Tom Emmer



The amendment to the bill would be applied to crypto tax filings made after Dec. 31, 2025. That is, if it ever gets to a House and Senate vote — and passes.



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US Lawmakers Try Again: Validators, Miners, Devs Are Not ‘Brokers’

<div id="highlights-block_632438ce4e773" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>SEC chair Gary Gensler believes most cryptocurrencies are securities and should be regulated by his agency</li>
 <li>Gensler&#8217;s recent comments indicate Ethereum’s move to PoS could open regulatory attack vectors</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Ethereum switched to proof-of-stake following the <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ethereum-switches-to-proof-of-stake-after-7-years-of-work/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Merge</a> on Thursday, but its transition towards energy efficiency may just bring stiff resistance from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).



The SEC has continued to advocate on the basis that most cryptos are securities — by definition under an 80-year-old Supreme Court ruling. That’s opposed to being recognized as commodities, which only explicitly applies to bitcoin, the regulator has said previously.



Now that Ethereum requires validators to stake their holdings to secure the network, alongside many other blockchains including Binance Smart Chain, Avalanche and Solana, questions regarding the role of intermediates in these systems are taking precedent.



Lending, staking and earning rewards, as defined by the 1946 Howey Test, could constitute securities activity, the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/ethers-new-staking-model-could-draw-sec-attention-11663266224" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Wall Street Journal</a> first reported Thursday, citing comments made by SEC chair Gary Gensler to reporters after a congressional hearing. The price of ether has since dropped up to 9%, now trading for about $1,460, while bitcoin shed just 1%.



Both bitcoin and ether may yet be regulated by the more amenable Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) should a group of <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/bitcoin-ether-to-be-regulated-as-commodities-by-cftc-per-new-senate-bill/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bipartisan senators</a> get their way, but certainty over how securities laws maps to cryptocurrencies is still hotly debated.



Addressing the U.S. Senate Banking Committee on Thursday, Gensler defended his agency’s stance which, among other things, believes crypto intermediaries such as brokers and exchanges should <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/crypto-intermediaries-should-register-with-us-sec-agency-chair-says-2022-09-08/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">register with the regulator</a>.



Multiple crypto exchanges, including Coinbase, Binance and Kraken, offer ether staking services, allowing users to participate in the Ethereum ecosystem directly from their accounts. 



Those three platforms recently controlled more than 30% of all staked ether, according data analytics unit Nansen, while liquid staking provider Lido Finance, through its <a href="https://research.lido.fi/t/lido-node-operator-validator-metrics/1431" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">node operators</a>, managed 47%.



Gensler reportedly believes that process seems consistent with lending, which would render Ethereum staking services akin to securities offerings under SEC law.



Long-time crypto advocate Sen. Pat Toomey took aim at the regulator over its approach to securities definition as it relates to digital assets while accusing the regulator of overstepping its legal mandate.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">5/ <a href="https://twitter.com/LidoFinance?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LidoFinance</a>, a decentralized on-chain liquid staking protocol, is the largest staker of ETH, boasting a total of ~31% of the total staked ETH. Following Lido, Coinbase, Kraken, and Binance have ~30% of the total staked ETH. <a href="https://t.co/is7eT3jJFq">pic.twitter.com/is7eT3jJFq</a>&mdash; Nansen🧭 (@nansen_ai) <a href="https://twitter.com/nansen_ai/status/1569702804817838080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 13, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



The senator also levied criticism at the SEC’s proposed and controversial climate disclosure rule, which would force public companies to include climate risks within their company filings.



“Crypto tokens have varying degrees of decentralization, usually do not have a financial claim on the issuer, and typically can be settled in real-time without intermediaries,” Toomey said in a statement.



Those varying degrees of decentralization and a lack of financial claim on the issuer are what separates digital assets from traditional securities, the senator said. 



They merit a clearly defined and bespoke regulatory framework, he argued, echoing sentiment felt across the industry.



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Ethereum Merge Attracts SEC Chair’s Attention, ETH Drops 8%

David Canellis

<div id="highlights-block_63231910eded9" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Crypto markets are weighed heavily by macroeconomic factors, regardless of the Merge’s significance</li>
 <li>Some existing proof-of-work chains are seeing booming hashrates in the hours since Ethereum switched to proof-of-stake</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The Merge <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ethereum-switches-to-proof-of-stake-after-7-years-of-work/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">happened this morning</a> — a milestone Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has been anticipating for eight years — but the price of ether has remained muted.



In fact, ether dropped up to 2% around the time of the transition. It has since rebounded slightly, trading at $1,590, down 1% over the past 24 hours as of 7:30 am, ET.



Bitcoin, which alongside Dogecoin is now one of just two top-10 blockchains running on proof of work, saw its native cryptocurrency shed a similar amount, hovering around $20,150.



In fact, no top-tier digital asset is green over the past day. Cosmos, a rival layer-1 blockchain, did however see its native asset ATOM catch a 10% wave in the minutes directly following the Merge, jumping from $13.30 to as high as $14.64 this morning.&nbsp;



ATOM is currently the second-best top-50 digital asset over the past week, up 12%, just behind Yuga Labs’ ApeCoin, which has added 16%.



Such anti-climatic price action may have some investors scratching their heads. Still, industry players remain bullish on the Merge’s long-term impact.



“The Merge is far from being priced in. Recent price action has been largely influenced by



external macro factors coupled with broader industry shakeouts,” Daniel Dizon, CEO at Ethereum staking protocol Swell Network CEO, told Blockworks in an email.



Dizon expects the macro environment to normalize over time, while the Ethereum ecosystem will continue to innovate and develop. This, combined with structural changes to how ether is issued, would be enough to bring in more retail and institutional capital, resulting in upward price pressure, Dizon said.



He added that switching to proof-of-stake has “entrenched Ethereum as the de facto blockchain to power Web3 and beyond.” Future upgrades, particularly around scalability, crossed with burgeoning activity across its layer-2 landscape, are expected to make it challenging for alternative layer-1s to legitimately encroach on Ethereum’s market share over the medium-to-longer term.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Absent ether mining, other blockchains see hashrate boost</h3>



The Ethereum blockchain is no longer mineable. Its original fork, Ethereum Classic (ETC), has seen its <a href="https://www.coinwarz.com/mining/ethereum-classic/hashrate-chart" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hashrate</a> explode out of the Merge, surging nearly 160% in the past day, from 55 TH/s to 142 TH/s.



That makes the network more secure and less susceptible to a 51% attack, somewhat crucial as ETC has <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2020/08/29/ethereum-classic-hit-by-third-51-attack-in-a-month/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">suffered from several</a> in the past.



Ethereum Classic’s hashrate (which measures the total computing power on the network) repeatedly hit all-time highs leading up to the Merge, having doubled between the end of July and the start of September.



For scale, Ethereum <a href="https://www.coinwarz.com/mining/ethereum/hashrate-chart" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">finished</a> its last full day of proof-of-work mining with more than 1,000 TH/s, while currently Dogecoin boasts 542 TH/s — both dwarfing ETC.



Crypto miners running high-performance GPUs are clearly looking to retain profitability with alternative networks. But that hasn’t suddenly converted to any sizable price movement for Ethereum Classic’s native token, ETC, which is up 5% in the past day but only 2% in the past week — again, just noise.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="479" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-15-at-14.25.39-1024x479.png" alt="" class="wp-image-31412" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-15-at-14.25.39-1024x479.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-15-at-14.25.39-1024x479.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-15-at-14.25.39-1024x479.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-15-at-14.25.39-1024x479.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-15-at-14.25.39-1024x479.png?w=2048 2048w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-15-at-14.25.39-1024x479.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-15-at-14.25.39-1024x479.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-15-at-14.25.39-1024x479.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-15-at-14.25.39-1024x479.png?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-15-at-14.25.39-1024x479.png?w=50 50w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Ethereum Classic&#8217;s hashrate had been ramping up leading up to the Merge. Source: <a href="https://www.coinwarz.com/mining/ethereum-classic/hashrate-chart" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CoinWarz</a></figcaption></figure>



One explanation could be that hashrate alone doesn’t bring usage. Ethereum Classic currently has few transactions <a href="https://etcblockexplorer.com/mempool" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">in its mempool</a> waiting to be mined — a grand total of 9 as of press time, compared to 165,000 on Ethereum. ETC has however climbed more than 170% in the past two months, hinting that <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-markets-bet-big-on-whats-next-for-ethereum-miners/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">speculation of future usage has driven</a> its price action rather than any tangible growth.



While Dogecoin and Litecoin haven’t seen any major immediate hashrate boosts, other proof-of-work chains have seen theirs grow around the Merge. RavenCoin’s is up 80% <a href="https://2miners.com/rvn-network-hashrate" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">today</a> (10 TH/s to 18 TH/s), while Syscoin’s, a much smaller blockchain, has <a href="https://www.coinwarz.com/mining/syscoin" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">jumped</a> 50% in the past week (39 EH/s to 58 EH/s).&nbsp;



RavenCoin’s native asset of the same name has surged 75% in the past seven days, hinting that markets anticipated miners would — at least in the short term — flock to the chain.



And so, those miners will no doubt be eyeing Ethereum’s most recent fork, ETHPoW (ETHW), which is expected to formally come online sometime <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/proof-of-work-ethereum-fork-pow-rally-miners-with-1-hour-countdown/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">in the next 24 hours</a>. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Ether fork price volatile after airdrop, as expected</h3>



Major mining pools have pledged to support ETHW, alongside prominent community figures such as early ETC backer <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ethereum-fork-may-be-doomed-to-fail-but-chandler-guo-is-all-in-again/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chandler Guo</a>.



In the meantime, crypto exchanges have begun airdropping ETHW to users who held ether at the time of the Merge.&nbsp;



An FTX market for the token is already live — after briefly dumping up to 15%, from $20 to $17, ETHW has since climbed 75% to reach a local top of $30 before retreating below $24 at press time. Although, that’s less than 2% of the price of ether.



At this point, the future of ETHW seems suspect, outside of heavy-capitalized mining outfits swooping for what could be one last hurrah. It seems unreasonable to expect the chain could compete with Ethereum and its merry band of layer-1 rivals, especially so considering no major stablecoin or DeFi protocol has pledged to operate on the network.



“Alternative layer-1s — such as Solana and Polkadot — still have a fair chance to innovate on consensus mechanisms, validator design, smart contract environment, peer-to-peer layers, and more,” Chen Zhuling, CEO at blockchain infrastructure provider RockX, said. “Many of these layer-1s have also been increasingly cultivating their developer communities and advocates.&#8221;



“The game is still on.”



Updated at 10:03 am, ET to add context about ETC&#8217;s price movements.



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Ether Price Flat After Merge as Miners Hunt for Hashrate Home

<div id="highlights-block_63203f5feedd2" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>ETHW’s mainnet launch is a direct response to the Merge event for Ethereum</li>
 <li>A successful Merge will put Ethereum miners out of business, leading to a proof-of-work spinoff</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The controversial Ethereum proof-of-work (PoW) fork, ETHPoW (ETHW), is expected to formally launch within 24 hours after the Merge, stewards of the nascent network <a href="https://twitter.com/EthereumPoW/status/1569428021437935617?s=20&amp;t=500Dk049w3JY1LAG-S92lQ" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a> late Monday.



The exact timing of ETHW’s mainnet deployment — the phase where fully-fledged blockchains are made available to the public — will be announced via a countdown timer one hour before going live, giving prospective participants a target to connect to the network.



The Merge event, which will see Ethereum transition to proof-of-stake (PoS), is slated for the very early hours of Sept. 15, once the blockchain reaches Terminal Total Difficulty of 58,750,000,000T.



Final code, binaries, configuration files, node info and the like for the Ethereum spinoff will be made available once the timer reaches zero, the stewards said.



Previously, miners on Ethereum have helped secure the network under a PoW-powered consensus mechanism. The transition to PoS will effectively put them out of business, leading major GPU miner <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ethereum-fork-may-be-doomed-to-fail-but-chandler-guo-is-all-in-again/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chandler Guo</a> to rally support for ETHW.



Indeed, ETHW is a direct response to the Merge, with those hoping to maintain the older Ethereum state, including its transaction history and all records of assets, as a means of survival.



Several exchanges have already voiced their support for the PoW fork. This has led markets to spring up for <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/ethereum-pow-iou">IOUs</a> of the network’s token, to be distributed by participating exchanges after the blockchain comes online.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Traders dumping Ethereum PoW could drag the price of ether</h3>



Skepticism abounds over whether ETHW will be particularly valuable (it currently <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/ethereum-pos-iou" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">trades</a> for around $29, while the PoS <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/ethereum-pos-iou" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">version</a> changes hands just below ether par, at $1,685).



Pricing for both ether and ETHW could be impacted if traders immediately sell their ETHW once their IOUs are swapped, Matt Weller, global head of research at FOREX.com told Blockworks in an email.



“Current grey market valuations for ETHW are at around 3% of the value of the main Ethereum network, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see ETH fall by ~3% immediately after even a successful Merge, akin to a stock going ex-dividend,” Weller said, as traders would hypothetically seek to offload the ether they bought to receive the fork token.



It&#8217;s not the first time the network has forked. Back in 2015, Ethereum split into two separate chains, Ethereum and Ethereum Classic (ETC), with the latter maintaining the original code and developed by Vitalik Buterin and Gavin Wood — complete with transactions associated with <a href="https://medium.com/swlh/the-story-of-the-dao-its-history-and-consequences-71e6a8a551ee" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Dao hack</a>.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">The ETHPoW whitepaper (linked from their official website) is pure performance art. There&#39;s a title page, a page that says &quot;The Original Ethereum Blockchain&quot;, and then 7 pages that just say &quot;intentionally left blank&quot;. <a href="https://t.co/nNHqTjZHUX">pic.twitter.com/nNHqTjZHUX</a>&mdash; frankie (@FrankieIsLost) <a href="https://twitter.com/FrankieIsLost/status/1567685957230673921?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 8, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div><figcaption>Onlookers have levied criticism at ETHPoW&#8217;s sparse &#8220;marketing <a href="https://ipfs.io/ipfs/bafybeiad2fsci44nzqoel4pvgpbugzzdugam53ylz42fdv2rbqj4r6fpxu/EthereumPoW%20Whitepaper.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">whitepaper</a>&#8221; in the leadup to its deployment.</figcaption></figure>



Chandler Guo was also a primary supporter of Ethereum Classic (ETC). While ETC has remained largely dormant relative to its developer activity and user adoption, it still commands a $5.2 billion market capitalization and currently ranks 19th in the top 20 coins.&nbsp;



ETC’s hash rate, which measures mining activity on the network, has repeatedly hit all-time highs leading up to the Merge, as miners speculate on which network will be most profitable once Ethereum abandons PoW. The network boasts less than 5% of Ethereum&#8217;s current hash rate.



Still, that traction has also buoyed its token price, with ETC up more than 10% on the week and more than <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-markets-bet-big-on-whats-next-for-ethereum-miners/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">180% in two months</a>.



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Proof of stake