Chainlink dropped support for possible Ethereum fork on PoW

What’s new? Representatives of Chainlink (LINK) said that the oracle network will continue to operate on the Ethereum blockchain during and after its transition to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm. However, the protocol will not support any Ethereum forks, including those based on the Proof-of-Work (PoW) algorithm. This information is contained in the updated documentation on the Chainlink website.

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What other statements have been made? Chainlink stressed that its decision is in line with the Ethereum Foundation and the entire community. The protocol’s representatives also recommended that developers and teams who are unsure of their migration strategy due to the migration to the new algorithm should suspend smart contracts. This will avoid unforeseen incidents and protect end users. Chainlink noted that decentralized applications (dApps) on Ethereum forks can behave in unexpected ways due to protocol and application-level issues, increasing the risk for users.

About Chainlink. Chainlink, a decentralized oracle network, is based on the Ethereum blockchain. The platform handles the verification and collection of data from external sources for other smart contracts. In June, the team announced the launch of a staking feature, which will appear in the second half of 2022, as well as the development of a new consensus algorithm, Proof of Reserves (PoR), which will increase transaction transparency. The native token LINK is trading at $8,45 as of August 8, 07:00 UTC, having gained 9,19% in 24 hours (Binance data), the total capitalization of the asset is $3,96 billion.

About switching to PoS. Ethereum 2.0 is a major upgrade to the network, preparations for which began back in December 2020. It will change the algorithm from PoW to PoS, increasing the speed, efficiency, and scalability of the network. With the upgrade, the system will be able to provide an increased level of security and process more transactions.

Earlier, the Poloniex exchange reported the listing of two types of ETH tokens, which may eventually emerge after the Ethereum hard fork. Starting August 8, the platform’s users can exchange ETH at a 1:1 ratio for ETHS (tokens of the new network on PoS) and ETHW (coins of the old blockchain on PoW). If the upgrade goes through without a fork, the new products will be excluded from the listing.