The world’s biggest crypto exchange platform says it is making the necessary preparations ahead of Ethereum’s (ETH) transition to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism.
In a new announcement, Binance says that the much-anticipated Merge upgrade could result in the blockchain splitting into two competing chains, which would create a new token.
If this happens, the exchange says the new proof-of-stake chain will adopt the ETH ticker.
“[If] the chain splits into two competing chains and a new token is created, the ‘ETH’ ticker will be used for the Ethereum proof-of-stake chain.
We will then credit to users’ Binance accounts the forked token from the minority chain at a ratio of 1:1, based on the snapshot of ETH balances before the Paris execution layer upgrade.”
Binance says it will temporarily halt deposits and withdrawals for ETH and ERC-20 tokens on September 6th and September 15th before the estimated execution of Bellatrix and Paris, the first phase and second phases of The Merge upgrade, respectively.
The platform is also suspending other ETH-related transactions including the loaning of ETH and subscriptions to ETH decentralized finance (DeFi) staking because of the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade.
“As a new token might be created during a hard fork, Binance has taken the following steps to reduce the trading risks brought about by price volatility and to maintain the safety of user funds during the hard fork.”
According to the Ethereum Foundation, the network’s transition could happen sometime between September 10th and 20th.
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