ETC Group is launching a new ethereum ETP which will continue to rely on the digital asset’s proof-of-work (PoW) consensus despite its upcoming merge to the proof-of-stake (PoS) network.
The ETC Group Physical EthereumPoW (ZETW) will be launched ahead of the planned merge, scheduled for mid-September, and will rely on a forked PoW ethereum chain, supported by a group of miners that are opposing the change to PoS.
The exchange-traded product (ETP) will be listed on the Deutsche Boerse and will likely launch following the hard fork event on 16 September.
ETC Group said all holders of ETC Group’s ETHetc – ETC Group Physical Ethereum (ZETH) will automatically receive securities of the new security, ZETW, on a 1:1 unit basis into their brokerage accounts.
Bradley Duke, founder and co-CEO of ETC Group, said: “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.
“We believe that it is only right that investors in our products should receive the proceeds of this fork.”
The widely anticipated ethereum merge will see ethereum’s mainnet merge with the Beacon Chain’s PoS system, marking the end of the PoW ethereum.
Some miners have pushed back on the merge, leading to the hard fork which will see the original ethereum chain split into two, the new PoS network (ETHS) and the new PoW (ETHW) network.
The news is likely to be welcomed by market makers with many issuers still yet to decide what route to take regarding following the merge.
The last time there was a hard fork affecting the underlying assets of an ETP was in November 2020 when the 21Shares Bitcoin Cash ETP (ABCH) supported the new forked chain.
However, days before the hard fork 21Shares halted creation and redemption mechanisms until after the new chain was determined stable again.
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