Official announcements said that Circle will ratify all matters pertaining to the Ethereum Merge. Even more, the Stablecoin juggernaut’s administration stated on its blog that it “intends to fully and solely support the proof-of-stake (PoS) chain following the Merger.” However, Circle has not endorsed Ethereum derivatives, thus its support for Merge is not entirely unqualified.
Circle, a knife in Ethereum’s back?
The entire cryptosphere appears to be on the boil as the Merge draws near. On the one side, there are miners that take precautions to avoid vanishing after September, like Chandler Guo. On the other hand, Vitalik Buterin keeps making an appearance to support his proposal to convert to PoS.
Circle Internet Financial recently, or more exactly yesterday, made a statement regarding the Merge. Following the infamous software update, it was said in its announcement that it will no longer support Ethereum derivatives.
Bloomberg tweeted the following today:
Circle, issuer of the stablecoin USDC, said it won’t support any offshoots of Ethereum when the blockchain network undergoes a major software update expected to be completed as soon as next month https://t.co/tQ17zUUWdQ
— Bloomberg (@business) August 9, 2022
Yet he supports the merger.
To mention that Circle just yesterday vowed to support Ethereum Merge fully. According to him, this is an important step towards “growing” the Ethereum ecosystem, according to Cointelegraph.
“USDC has evolved into a fundamental component of Ethereum DeFi innovation. It has aided in the uptake of L2 solutions and assisted in extending the range of use cases that currently depend on Ethereum’s extensive set of features. We are aware of our obligations to the USDC ecosystem, the businesses, developers, and end users who depend on it, and we aim to uphold those obligations.
Recall that the largest dollar-backed asset currently released on Ethereum is the USDC stablecoin. Its market valuation of $45 billion makes it the largest ERC-20 asset overall.
In other words, Ethereum would suffer if Circle’s support were to disappear. DeFi applications on the blockchain, including how their value is held there, would be impacted if the divorce were to be declared.
The Circle staff is fortunately an understanding bunch:
- “ We understand the responsibility we have to the Ethereum ecosystem and the businesses, developers, and end users that rely on USDC, and we intend to do the right thing. “
But there are restrictions on this Cirlce support for The Merge. The execution layer of Ethereum and Beacon have been combined, among other things. Additionally, it also intends to oppose any potential ETHW-like forks.
