Announcement about Ethereum’s Forks and possible Chain-splits in January 2019The Ethereum network is approaching several proposed hardforks in the course of this month, some of which are created and supported by the Ethereum Foundation, others are hostile and contested. All of them are possibly leading to splits of the Ethereum blockchain. Previously, CryptoGames has chosen to distribute split tokens created by the contested fork that returned funds from TheDAO after it was hacked, when we distributed ETC to both investors and players, but has not distributed any split tokens created from other chain splits that have happened on the Ethereum network since.
The three main forks, all of which will take place in the next days, and their possible impact, as well as the preparations taken by CryptoGames in light of them, are what we want to take a look at in this contingency plan. Those forks include: – the Ethereum Classic Vision (ETCV) hardfork, a fork that is scheduled to happen on the 11th; – the Ethereum Nowa (ETN) hardfork, a fork scheduled for the 12th; – and the Constantinople hardfork, which is part of the Metropolis upgrade to the Ethereum network, and scheduled to happen between the 14th and 18th, depending on when the threshold block will be mined.
Firstly, we’ll take a look at the two forks that are not proposed by the Ethereum Foundation and are not part of the Ethereum networks roadmap, meaning the forks that try to create alternative blockchains with different rules, being
ETCV and
ETN. As it has been
our policy for chainsplits for a while now, we do not plan to distribute either of those tokens, should they successfully fork and create a stable split-chain different from Ethereums main chain. Since we do not plan to distribute or support either token, and since there is reasonable doubt about how legitimate this two projects and teams behind them are, we don’t want to go into further detail about their vision or changes here, users interested in the tokens can take a look at the websites for ETCV and ETN. You should remember that we cannot vouch for either project (e.g. there is a
serious accusation against the ETN team), and that you should research the projects before taking any additional steps. Download and run software offered at either website only at your own risk, and verify software before giving it access to your private keys.
This decision not to distribute either of the two split tokens means that all users, players and investors, who want to access their
ETCV or their
ETN will have to withdraw their funds from CryptoGames prior to the splitting threshold and will have to manage the splitting of their tokens on their own, after which they can again deposit the legacy tokens (ETH) to CryptoGames. Please remember that the withdrawals might take some time to complete, and make sure to issue them well prior to the 11th, and the 12th respectively, especially when you are withdrawing bigger amounts. Also please ensure that you have split-off your alternative tokens before re-depositing any funds, in order to prevent the transaction from replaying on an alternative chain, and possibly losing access to your tokens (ETCV or ETN) on this chain in the process.
In the case of the Constantinople fork however, we want to take a different approach. Constantinople is the January fork
supported by the Ethereum Foundation. It is the second part of the Metropolis upgrade to the Ethereum network, and part of Ethereum’s development roadmap. CryptoGames is running wallets that are up to date with the latest releases and those wallets will follow the forked chain resulting from Constantinople. This hardfork is scheduled to happen at block 7,080,000, which is expected to be mined between the 14th and the 18th. For those of you interested in the technical details, the Constantinople upgrade includes changes such as bitwise shifting, a change to contract storage (sstore), as well as once again a further delay of Ethereums difficulty bomb and an adjustment of the block rewards. For a full overview of features and changes included in the Constantinople fork, you can take a look at
this list. It also includes an overview of clients that have made the necessary changes, and thus are compatible with the Constantinople fork.
While the Constantinople fork currently does not look like it is going to cause a chain-split, most services and mining pools have announced their support for it, we still do want to prepare for the possibility. Unlike with ETCV and ETN, we are ready to distribute the legacy tokens (following old, unchanged consensus rules), should there be two or more resulting chains after the Constantinople fork. As with previous hardforks, we will disable deposits and withdrawals for Ethereum shortly prior to the Constantinople fork and monitor the network during it. Afterwards, once we deem the Ethereum network to be stable again, we’ll enable transactions again, all of which will have to happen on the blockchain following the consensus rules established by the Constantinople fork. CryptoGames will not accept any deposits included in blocks following the old legacy rules after block 7,080,000.
In case of a chain-split resulting from Constantinople, we will release another update to this contingency plan, including the process to claim your split tokens, the deadlines and minimums for this process, and any additional information that might be important to you while doing so. Should you meanwhile have any question regarding the situation around Ethereum, you can visit our on-site chatroom and directly ask us there, or you can post a public response right here, maybe someone else has a similar question, or can help you find the answer. For specific questions only regarding your account, please contact the support team (
[email protected]). As always, we will keep you updated with newsletter emails and the on-site news ribbon, should there be any important changes in regards to this situation.
