Bitfinex announces support of Ethereum Merge toward proof-of-stake

Bitfinex will review all forked tokens and take snapshot of all ETH balances and margin positions.

Bitfinex has announced support of the Ethereum Merge, one of the most important chapters in Ethereum’s history as it permanently changes the underlying consensus mechanism to a proof-of-stake system.

“Proof-of-stake” uses an algorithmic lottery to determine who gets to validate transactions (and win tokens as a reward for doing so) out of a pool of “stakers” who temporarily deposit their coins to help secure the network.

Bitfinex said it will enable customers to enjoy a seamless transition as Ethereum undergoes its most significant software upgrade to date.

Monumental event in the history of Ether

Paolo Ardoino, Chief Technology Officer at Bitfinex, said: “The Ethereum Merge is a monumental event in the history of Ether and we will be supporting the Merge, ensuring that our users have a seamless customer experience when it takes place. As we approach this event, customers can also take advantage of the Ethereum Chain Split Tokens we have made available on our platform, which enables the trading of ETHW and ETHS tokens, and position themselves for all eventualities in the run up to the Merge.”

The Ethereum blockchain currently operates on a proof-of-work model and will merge with its proof-of-stake chain. Following this, all transactions on Ethereum will be reached via a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. The upgrade will make the Ethereum blockchain substantially more energy efficient.

Bitfinex will review all forked tokens and take snapshot of all ETH balances and margin positions

Chain Split Tokens enable users to trade on the potential fork event in the Ethereum consensus protocol, that may result in ETH Proof of Work (PoW) and ETH Proof of Stake (PoS) tokens.

In order to protect Bitfinex users, all forked tokens will go through the same strict listing review process as Bitfinex does for all digital tokens. Bitfinex does not guarantee any listings as per our internal policy.

At the Merge a snapshot will be taken of all ETH balances and margin positions. Bitfinex may pause trading, deposits and withdrawals of ETH for a short period in connection with the Merge.

Bitfinex, which is tied to the world’s largest stablecoin Tether, offers spot and margin trading, staking, borrowing and capital raising. Its offering is not targeted at US residents, who are “strictly prohibited from directly or indirectly holding, owning or operating an account”.

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