Chainlink Will Not Support Ethereum Forks After the Merge

Chainlink said it will not provide support for forked versions of the Ethereum blockchain after the much-anticipated shift from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS), also known as the Merge. However, the Chainlink protocol and services will remain available during and after the Merge.

“Users should be aware that forked versions of the Ethereum blockchain, including PoW forks, will not be supported by the Chainlink protocol. This is aligned with both the Ethereum Foundation’s and broader Ethereum community’s decision, achieved via social consensus, to upgrade the Ethereum blockchain to PoS consensus,” Chainlink said in a notification on its website.

Advises Safety Measures

The blog post advised the developers and dApp teams on the Ethereum network, who are not sure about their move with respect to the Merge, to put their smart contract operations on hold to “avoid unforeseen incidents and help protect end users.”

The blockchain oracle service provider, however, assured the users on the Ethereum network that it’s doubling down on its quality assurance process to meet the challenges of the upcoming network upgrade.

“dApps operating on forked versions of Ethereum, including PoW forks, might behave in unexpected ways due to both protocol and application-level issues, introducing increased risk for users,” it said.

Speculation of Hard Fork

Chainlink is a leading smart contract infrastructure provider on the Ethereum network with significant footprints in Defi, Enterprise, and NFT & Gaming arenas. Ahead of the Merge, speculation is rife that the network will split into ETHPOW and ETH2.0 or ETHS.

Blockchain security experts point to the possibility of ETH holders getting the airdrop, and scammers might take advantage of the fluid situation surrounding Ethereum’s transition. Chainlink’s clarification, therefore, that it will not support any forked version of Ethereum in the event of a split of the network makes things clear for developers and dApps on its network.

Chainlink Driving Adoption

A Bank of America analysis in February said that Chainlink, with over $60 billion of total locked value in smart contracts, will drive mainstream blockchain adoption across industries, including gaming, gambling, and insurance.

In June, Chainlink announced that its live price feed will be available on Solana, initially for BTC, ETH, and USDC, and will later be expanded to cover other coins. The very next month, Bybit announced the integration of Chainlink’s live price feeds for 35 coins to enhance price accuracy for its spot trading services.