Minergate, a mining pool and the developer of GUI mining software that supports mining of various cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ethereum, is including support for Ethereum classic, the blockchain based on the original Ethereum platform’s consensus before the hard fork. Although the original Ethereum blockchain was officially abandoned following a hard fork that was triggered as a result of the DAO attack, a group of community members have since come together to implement the Ethereum blockchain’s original consensus. The project, known as Ethereum Classic, was announced last week. While it gained scarce support initially, a move by Poloniex – Ethereum token ether’s largest exchange – to add support to the Ethereum Classic blockchain (ETC or ETHC) is more validation for those who opposed the hard fork. Cryptocurrency mining pool MinerGate is among them. In an announcement communicated to CCN today, MinerGate revealed that it will enable mining support for Ethereum Classic.
The decision was made out of a deep conviction that Ethereum could thrive without manual actions [the hardfork] in the first place, as officially stated by our CEO . Having this in mind, MinerGate couldn’t miss the opportunity to encourage the development of the untouched original Ethereum blockchain.
A day prior to the hard fork last week, MinerGate CEO Claude Lecomte had stated that the fork endangered Ethereum on three levels, further explained here. “I personally do not support the hard fork proposal,” Lecomte stated. “This proposal washes away the idea of the irreversibility of smart contracts and interferes with core technology. “ Despite his disagreement, the chief executive added that MinerGate wasn’t voting against the hard fork in the interests of the technology’s development, while adding that the pool was “forced” to move to the winning chain. Support for Bitcoin Classic will be seen across the MinerGate’s GUI and GPU-centric miners.
Bitfinex to Add ETC
Beyond Poloniex, another major exchange will also begin support for ETC. A representative of Hong Kong-based digital assets exchange Bitfinex has confirmed that it will be adding an ETC trading pair, with a formal announcement due soon. It remains to be seen if other major exchanges will follow suit during a contentious period for Ethereum and its blockchain platforms. Yesterday, prominent Chinese cryptocurrency miner Chandler Guo declared that he would initiate a 51% attack on the Ethereum Classic. Guo is an investor in BW.com, a mining pool among Ethereum’s largest. Since then, a representative for BW has distanced the mining pool from Guo’s comments.
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