As Ethereum's move from Proof-of-Work Consensus mechanism to Proof-of-Stake is nearing, many miners consider going back to Ethereum Classic, a fork of Ethereum that uses PoW.
Related: Buterin Says With the Merge Ethereum Will Be 55% Complete
Talking about the expected event, and its impact on the network at the ETHSeoul festival, Buterin said he doesn't think that the changes will have any negative effects on the blockchain as most community members support the merge. After the merge which is scheduled for September, Ethereum miners that now secure the network using mining equipment and earning ETH tokens in return, may face financial losses.
However, Buterin says he hopes miners won't be affected as they can mint new tokens on Ethereum Classic. He noted that Ethereum Classic already has a superior community and a superior product for people who prefer PoW.
Ethereum Classic was created in 2016 following a hack of the Ethereum DAO. Then, the community split and two chains appeared.
A new Ethereum fork is also possible as some miners proposed that miners could keep supporting a newly separated PoW version of the blockchain, called EthereumPoW network.
Commenting on the proposal, Buterin said he doesn't think that Ethereum will be essentially harmed by a new fork.