Launched on 19 Jan 2019, Etherzero was created through a hardfork at Block 4936270. The new blockchain, based on the PoW consensus, was launched with 194,000,000 ETZ premined coins. 97,000,00 ETZ were issued 1:1 to all holders of ETH as an Airdrop. The remaining 97.000.000 ETZ are owned by the team and serve to ensure further development.
In June 2018, the team decided to switch from PoW to PoS for security reasons. They decided on a new construction: MPoS, masternode proof-of-Stake. The MPoS consensus aims to combine the energy-saving process of Staking with the security and decentralization of masternodes in conjunction with autonomous self-government by the community.
The new network was launched in August 2018. It features 1-2 second block times and the Power and Slow-Nodes-Judge security management. Etherzero is reportedly fully compatible with Ethereum, allowing developers to publish their smart contracts on the Etherzero Blockchain free of charge.