Following the Merge, Coinbase will assess any potential forks

By: Michael Wilson

August 27, 2022 7:03 AM

Cryptocurrency exchange to account for any forks, Coinbase has revised its information about Ethereum's switch to proof-of-stake.

Coinbase said it would assess any potential forks in the Ethereum blockchain on a "case by case basis" in an update to a blog post from August 16 published on Thursday. The cryptocurrency exchange earlier announced its intention to "briefly stop" deposits and withdrawals of ERC-20 tokens and Ether (ETH) during the Merge, which is anticipated to take place between September 10 and 20.

"If an ETH PoW fork occurs after The Merge, this asset will be examined with the same scrutiny as every other asset listed on our exchange," according to Coinbase.

Exchanges and cryptocurrency companies that deal in ETH have released statements notifying customers of any necessary preparations prior to the Merge from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS). Many anticipate that the blockchain will use significantly less energy, scale more easily, and be less susceptible to threats.

As Ethereum transitions, it's uncertain how crypto customers will react to a forked PoW coin published on Coinbase or any other cryptocurrency market. The platform introduced cbETH, an ERC-20 token that enables users to spend staked ETH while collecting rewards, on Wednesday.

Additionally, on Thursday, Binance stated that while it might provide support for new coins produced by a future hard fork, it could "not guarantee any listings" without a review procedure. On August 8, BitMEX announced a similar development, stating that the sale was "extremely speculative" and "may never exist."