FTX, ByBit Begin Offering ETHW Trading

Both ByBit and FTX are offering ETHW trading following the successful Ethereum Merge, even as the network is preparing for a hard fork.

Two leading crypto exchanges FTX and ByBit are among the first crypto trading platforms to launch spot ETHW (EthereumPoW tokens) trading.

On Thursday, ByBit announced on Twitter that it has launched trading ETHW against the Tether (USDT) stablecoin. In addition, the Brazilian digital currency exchange also noted that it would soon begin to facilitate ETHW deposits and withdrawals.

As it stands, ByBit constitutes around 10% of ETHW trading volumes. Meanwhile, FTX is reportedly handling more than 80% of ETHW trading, which is an estimated $24.7 million as of press time. Another exchange, MEXC Global, accounts for 17.6% of present ETHW trading volumes.

The rush by crypto exchanges to start trading EthereumPoW (ETHW) tokens comes on the heels of the September Ethereum mainnet upgrade. However, despite the Merge, the network is yet to fork into two separate entities.

FTX, ByBit Among Growing List of Exchanges Trading ETHW Post-Merge

Besides FTX and ByBit, the ETHW Fork IOU token is now trading on three other platforms – making a total of five exchanges. The other three include FTX US, Gate.io, and MEXC Global, according to data from CoinGecko.

The ETHW Fork IOU token is currently changing hands at $13.8. This token is an IOU (“I owe you”) digital currency indicating a debt obligation from one party to another. The debt dynamic is so because ETHW would derive from the potential Ethereum hard fork whose chain has not forked yet.

The Ethereum blockchain hard fork was planned to follow the Merge, and was widely expected to occur within the next 24 hours. Speaking on the trail of developments to occur post-Merge, ETC Group says the market will decide on Ethereum-based exchange-traded products (ETPs). According to the leading European crypto ETP issuer:

“If enough people get behind a fork for whatever reason, we feel the free market will decide on what should live and what should not. […] We are not in the business of predicting whether the fork will be a success or not.”

Following the Merge, the fork will split the chain into two variants, the new proof-of-stake (PoS) module and the now-older proof-of-work (PoW) one. The PoW module will allow miners and mining-oriented developers to continue executing tasks on the Ethereum protocol.

The Merge

The Ethereum Merge took place on September 15th and successfully transitioned the multi-faceted blockchain to PoS. Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum prime mover and co-founder took to Twitter to comment on the network’s successful replacement of miners with validators.

“And we finalized! Happy merge all. This is a big moment for the Ethereum ecosystem. Everyone who helped make the merge happen should feel very proud today,” wrote Buterin.

In addition, one of the developers who worked on the Merge also expressed delight at this monumental moment, saying:

“We merged! What a surreal feeling after working on the beacon chain for two years and the merge for two years.”