OpenSea supports The Merge, thus won’t support NFTs on the ETHPoW fork

The largest NFT marketplace in the world, OpenSea, has openly stated that it will support Ethereum’s The Merge later this month. As a result, it won’t support any theoretical and speculative Ethereum forks that happen after it is activated, such as a possible ETHPoW fork.

1/ The Merge is coming! Here’s what we’re doing to prepare…

— OpenSea (@opensea) August 31, 2022

In a tweet posted on Wednesday, the NFT marketplace giant declared its support for the Merge. It stated:

“We are committed to solely supporting NFTs on the upgraded Ethereum PoS chain.”

It also stated that OpenSea will not reflect or support any NFTs that may be in circulation on a potential ETHPoW fork following the merge.

In addition, the company anticipates a smooth switch to Ethereum’s proof of stake (POS) protocol. According to the post,  is dedicated to overseeing, controlling, and communicating at all times.

The Merge hopefully coming soon

Notably, The merge, which is scheduled to be launched this month, aims to lower Ethereum’s energy use by over 99% and get it ready for sharding, a scaling option that will come later on the protocol’s roadmap. Additionally, it will enable ETH owners to profit by staking their currencies to protect the network. Recently, as TheCoinRise reported, former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes said that The Merge will rally Ethereum similar to Bitcoin halving, though the two events are totally different.

But a group of Chinese Ethereum miners has been coordinating a fork of the network that will keep proof of work after September. Although it hasn’t been verified yet, BitMEX has already started providing leverage trading for the fictitious chain.

In order for companies like OpenSea to continue operating, they must support assets that circulate on one of the chains. As of now, the majority of significant businesses intend to adhere to the POS Ethereum chain.

For instance, Circle and Tether, the two biggest stablecoin issuers, have already committed to solely supporting the merge. As a result, the peg to the dollar will be broken by USDC and USDT which are traded on other forks.