Ethereum PoW fork to launch within 24 hours following The Merge

The first transaction will be possible only at the 2049th block

13.09.2022 - 11:45

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What’s new? The EthereumPOW development team, which advocates preserving the original Proof-of-Work consensus algorithm for the Ethereum blockchain, published information on Twitter regarding the future launch of the mainnet fork of the cryptocurrency.

Screenshot of the tweet

What is known about the PoW fork? According to the developers, the launch of the mainnet will take place within 24 hours after The Merge upgrade. The exact launch time will be announced 1 hour before the launch. As of now, the upgrade and Ethereum’s transition to the Proof-of-Stake algorithm are scheduled for September 15.

The initial mining difficulty on the PoW fork will be around 220T, which corresponds to an approximate hashrate of 15 TH/s. The first transaction will be possible only at the 2049th block. 2048 blocks will be empty to test the correctness of the network’s switching. The developers have announced an information release for node owners in the near future.

What is known about the Ethereum upgrade? Due to the algorithm change from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS), the way coins are earned on the network will change from mining to staking. The upgrade may also result in a split into two networks, one of which will continue to run on PoW. In August, the developers published a document refuting misconceptions related to the upcoming upgrade.

On September 6, developers activated the Bellatrix upgrade, which was the last step before the transition of the mainnet to PoS. After the launch, technical problems were recorded on the network. The blockchain’s missed block rate increased by 1700%.

Read about what difficulties the upgrade may cause and how it will affect the price of ETH in GetBlock Magazine’s special feature.

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