When the Ethereum network “split” into ETH and ETHPoW, many people wondered what would happen next. One chain decided to reject proof-of-stake and continually support mining. It hasn’t been a great success so far, as the hashrate is near an all-time low.
ETHPoW Keeps Losing Ground
Most people agreed that switching to proof-of-stake was the best option for the Ethereum network. However, it remains a somewhat controversial decision, although it was locked in years ago. However, some community members felt the need to oppose that change. Those with large Ethereum mining operations wanted alternative options to switching to Ethereum Classic. However, creating ETHPoW may not have been the most sensible decision either.
Fast forward to today, and the EthereumPoW chain looks in a rough state. Although it still has sufficient miner support, its overall hashrate has decreased significantly. Despite starting at over 58 terahash/second, it quickly dipped to half that value. Following a brief rebound, the network support continues to drift lower and lower. There isn’t sufficient interest in supporting the chain from a monetary perspective.
Today, ETHPoW has a hashrate of roughly 16 terahash/second. It is near an all-time low, although the numbers have recently increased slightly. There is no real reason to support the mining effort, though, as the native currency has too much supply and insufficient demand. It is very similar to Bitcoin SV in that regard. Some people will support it till they die, but it has no real place in the industry.
There is no reason to expect a sudden increase in hashpower either. Moreover, F2pool and 2Miners combine for over 50% of the hashrate, making network collusion a real threat. That is, assuming someone would try to attack the network, but there is no incentive. Other notable mining pools include Jingniu, Poolin, X-Pool, Antpool, and Richpool.
Lack of Profitability And Nodes
Diving deeper into the ETHPoW network statistics paints an intriguing picture. First of all, the network has 14 active nodes, according to 2miners. That seems very low and hits at tremendous centralization. It would be detrimental to the decentralized applications running on the network, but the statistics seem legitimate. Spinning up more nodes shouldn’t be too hard, but again, the world doesn’t care about this network.
Another factor to consider is whether mining this chain is profitable. Crypto mining is expensive due to hardware and electricity costs, along with pool fees and dealing with volatile crypto assets. Per WhatToMine, the average miner would lose money by supporting ETHPoW. As such, users would never break even, let alone pocket a profit.
At a $400 million market cap, the recent Ethereum fork has dropped off most people’s radars. In addition, the team behind this project hasn’t been on Twitter in a month, and the EthereumPoW website looks as bland as ever. As such, it may be a better of time until this project dies a quiet death.
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