ETC Group to Launch New ETP for 'Imminent' Ethereum Hard Fork

ETC Group has joined the ranks of entities that have announced intentions to support a potential proof of work (PoW) version of the Ethereum network.

The new chain, should it eventually appear following the network’s transition to a proof-of-stake (PoS) system, is tentatively called ETHPoW and doesn’t yet exist.

Nevertheless, the London-based crypto firm ETC Group plans to list a new exchange-traded product (ETP) based on the native asset of the ETHPoW chain, issuing holders of its existing Ethereum ETP (ZETH) units of the new security at no cost on a 1:1 unit basis, the firm said in a press release shared with Decrypt.

This new physically-backed ETP will be called ETC Group Physical EthereumPoW (ETHWetc) and will be listed on Deutsche Borse’s Xetra under ticker ZETW “based on the imminent hard fork of Ethereum.” The official listing is expected to occur on September 16, the firm said, shortly after the merge event.

An ETP is a type of security that can be traded on a stock exchange with its value tracking an underlying security. An Ethereum ETP, for example, tracks the price of Ethereum, allowing investors to gain exposure to the cryptocurrency without the need to physically hold the asset.

“When we launched ETC Group, we committed to holders of our digital asset-backed securities that they would benefit from hard forks to the underlying digital assets and cryptocurrencies,” Bradley Duke, founder and co-CEO of ETC Group, said in a statement. “We believe that it is only right that investors in our products should receive the proceeds of this fork.”

The Ethereum merge resistance

Last month, a group of crypto miners led by Chinese entrepreneur Chandler Guo launched a campaign to resist Ethereum’s impending transition to PoS by forking the network and creating an alternate form of Ethereum minable via the proof-of-work (PoW) algorithm.

A version of the ETHPoW (ETHW) token—essentially, a token denoting a debt relationship between two parties—is already trading on several crypto exchanges, including Poloniex, Gate.io, MEXC, and Digifinex.

America’s largest crypto exchange Coinbse recently said that it will consider listing ETHW or other forked Ethereum tokens following the merge, while Binance did not rule out the possibility of eventually listing ETHW either.

Conversely, OpenSea, the largest non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, stated that any Ethereum forks will not be supported on the platform. The company is “committed to solely supporting NFTs on the upgraded Ethereum PoS chain.”

A version of ETHW hit $141 at the beginning of August amid an initial round of speculative buzz, however, plummeted heavily since then. The token is down 17.35% over the past 24 hours, trading at $39 at press time, per CoinMarketCap.

Ethereum fell 7% in the last day and is currently changing hands for around $1,544.