iFinex, the parent company of Bitfinex Derivatives, has announced the launch of a new service offering to users before the Ethereum Merge takes place. According to Cointelegraph, the exchange will now offer the facility of Ethereum Chain Split Tokens (CSTs).
As stated by Cointelegraph, tokens available to users will represent the two systems involved in the Merge, which includes proof-of-work (PoW), also known as ETHW, and proof-of-stake (PoS), also known as ETHS. Bitfinex’s aim behind launching the new trading tokens is for users to be able to trade on the potential forking event, with the coins being made available through the Bitfinex trading platform. Paolo Ardoino, chief technology officer, Bitfinex, made the announcement of new tokens to prepare users for all Merge-oriented developments. However, the tokens are set to expire by the end of this year.
On the basis of information by Cointelegraph, as mentioned by the exchange, there are three possibilities for which users can get prepared through the tokens. If no consensus changes are made to the PoW chain, ETHS will expire and ETH will be given for all ETHW holdings. However, if consensus change takes place with no fork, the vice-versa will happen. In the case of both a consensus change and a successful fork, both ETHW and ETHS tokens will be credited with ETH.
Moreover, Cointelegraph noted that the Merge is expected to bring changes to the cryptocurrency industry. Users expect to see if the event will happen around the timeframe promised by developers, and also if any sort of disruptive change takes place. Protocols such as Aave expect users on the network to commit to PoS before time, despite a pushback from the PoW community. Miners have received the choice of how to get on with the Merge. While some mining pools have already made the shift to staking, other PoW miners aim to freeze contracts to keep PoW stable.
(With insights from Cointelegraph)
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