HODL THAT! #5 Ethereum Hard Fork Free EtherZero

UPDATE(20th of January)

In HODL THAT! #5 we wrote about the upcoming Hard Fork for Ethereum. This fork provides free coins on 1:1 basis for everyone, that holds ETH in particular wallets. The forked coin is named EtherZero, the ticker will be $ETZ.  Firstly, the hard fork has been canceled due to missing support in the community, now the date is up again and EtherZero finally released a white paper on their website. 

EtherZero has also the same consensus mechanism like Ethereum, Proof-of-Work. The block interval shall be decreased from 15 to 10 seconds with ETZ, using a block size of 2 MB. Mining will be GPU based and make use of the same mining algorithm like Ethereum, ETHash. The total supply will be 116 million (Ethereum, in comparison,  has a total supply of 97 million).

Due to EtherZero, the main advantages of ETZ shall be:

• No TX fee
• Instant payments
• Master Node support and high scalability

When will the Hard Fork happen?

Update: The hard fork happened at the evening at the 19th of January around 8 PM GMT @ block number 4.936.270.  The current block number can be found here:  https://ethstats.net/.

How to get the free ETZ Coin

Every Ethereum – token will create an EtherZero – token.  You just have to keep Ethereum in one of the following wallets:

The following exchanges have been approached for a listing (Source: EtherZero, none of these exchanges confirmed a listing yet):

Is EtherZero a Scam?

At this time, we can't say if EtherZero is a scam or not. The Team itself seems not united, the domain is registered with WhoIs protection, which is uncommon for a project of this size. Metamask warns from phishing if you visit the website. However, if they could keep up with the promises of the white paper, EtherZero would have a very high potential – but as so often: if something that seems to be too good to be true, it probably is.

UPDATE: 

The scam rumors are maybe FUD, please read this post.

Update 2: MyEtherWallet tweeted:

⚠ After looking into EthZero, we have no clarity as to (1) what the code is (2) who created it (3) if it is properly licensed. Coupled w/ multiple .exe's that are malicious, we recommend NOT INSTALLING NOR USING ANYTHING RELATED TO ETHZERO AS IT PUTS YOUR SYSTEM & ETH AT RISK

— MyEtherWallet.com (@myetherwallet) 20. Januar 2018

EtherZero will be a legend, that is sure: Whether as the better Ethereum, the biggest airdrop scam ever, or as the hard fork with the worst communication cryptosphere has seen yet. Let's sit it out. Please stay safe – there are so many fake websites out there right now, do not submit your private key / seed anywhere – just don't do it.

How to find the ETZ Coin?

There was one doubtable option to submit your private key / seed on the etherzero website, which has a MyEtherWallet-alike wallet. This can be considered as very risky if you do this from your main wallet. If you don't need the wallet further and moved all funds out before, you could give it a try – anyhow, we would never recommend giving the private key away or to submit it on any site. On the 22th of January at 8 PM GMT the custom node shall be released plus the information on how to add this custom node for ETZ in your MEW. Check their Twitter. Be careful, there are many fake sites like eterzero.org online that mimic the original site. If you submit your private key there, nothing will be left in your wallet.

ETZ Exchange

Until now, you can trade ETZ on YoBit