OpenSea, the most significant nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace, announced on Wednesday that it will only support proof-of-stake (PoS) NFTs on Ethereum, tweeting that “we are committed to solely supporting NFTs on the upgraded Ethereum PoS chain.”
OpenSea announces that will only support PoS NFTs on Ethereum
To ensure the smoothest transition possible following the merge, the NFT behemoth added that any Ethereum forks, a technical term for when a blockchain network splits, will not be supported on OpenSea.
According to DappRadar, OpenSea was the first NFT marketplace to launch on Ethereum in 2017, and it now supports over 80 million NFTs and over $31 billion in total volume since its inception.
The merge event, one of Ethereum’s most significant upgrades to date, is scheduled between September 10 and 16. The event will transition Ethereum from a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus algorithm to a proof-of-stake (PoS) algorithm.
Circle Agrees with OpenSea on Merge
Even though OpenSea has stated that it will not support any forked versions of Ethereum, other platforms have taken a much different stance.
Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex, for example, stated that if the merger results in a fork, it will provide traders with options. On Bitfinex, two Ethereum Chain Split tokens were launched: ETHW, an Ether token that supports PoW, and ETHS, a PoS token.
Coinbase has also considered listing forked ETHW on the exchange to “create a level playing field,” according to a Coinbase blog. “Any forked ETH token will be reviewed with the same rigor as any other asset listed on our exchange,” the exchange says.
Circle, the company behind the second largest US dollar stablecoin USD Coin (USDC), has agreed to support OpenSea’s stance, stating in an announcement that “our sole plan is to support the upgraded Ethereum PoS chain fully.”
