The future of ETH 2.0 hangs in the balance, but Tether, issuer of the USDT stablecoin, has fanned the embers of hope among believers by announcing its full support.
Tether’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Paolo Ardoino revealed over the weekend that the stablecoin issuer will support ETH 2.0.
Ardoino revealed the stance of the company in a tweet amid reports that stablecoin issuers might play safe by announcing support at a later stage. However, Tether’s CTO debunked the claims by stating that “support of ETH 2.0 will be seamless” regardless of the delays to the Merge.
The Merge is Ethereum’s grand plan to transition from a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism to proof-of-stake (PoS). The transition is said to reduce Ethereum’s power consumption by over 90% and slash the cost of carrying out transactions on the network.
ETH may fork
The delays associated with the Merge have cast a large shadow of doubt over the future of the Ethereum network. Galois Capital, a crypto hedge fund, revealed that a third of respondents to a survey believed that the network would fork into two chains.
Galois Capital claimed that there was a real chance that stablecoin issuers like Tether and Circle would side with ETH1. The hedge fund argued that flaws and bugs in ETH 2.0 could open stablecoins to liability and potential lawsuits, while their strong ties to Bitcoin maximalists and Asian miners might influence their decision to ditch ETH 2.0.
“It’s not about what I/we prefer between PoW/PoS,” said Ardoino. “Stablecoins should act responsibly and avoid disruption for users. Especially for DeFi as it’s really delicate.”
Ardoino’s clarified the firm’s stance by pitching its tent with ETH 2.0 and the decision could lead to more stablecoin issuers making similar declarations.
Delays to the Merge
At the start of the year, the Merge was expected during the summer, but a series of hitches have delayed the network’s transition. The Goerli and Prater Merge is yet to be concluded as developers race to put things in order ahead of a new date in Sept.
Ahead of the Merge, ETH 2.0 has become the most staked asset according to data from Staking Rewards, with $22.18 billion worth of tokens being staked.
Adam Levitin, a law professor at Georgetown University, expressed worry that regulators will designate Ethereum as a security upon the completion of the Merge given the activities of stakers.
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