Ethereum Classic Hashrate Drops 48% Since Switching to Proof of Stake
Eight out of ten Ethereum miners appear to have gone offline after The Merge, according to data from 2miners, a website that tracks proof-of-work networks hash rate.
The data shows that many miners are choosing to shut down their hardware after rising hash rates rendered many networks supporting EtHash miners unprofitable.
mining at a loss
“I’m mining at a loss,” TheCrowbill, an Ethereum Classic miner, told The Defiant on Sept. 27. “It will probably remain so for some time.”
Ethereum’s September 15 chain merge removed proof-of-work miners from the network in favor of proof-of-stake validators. The move reduced Ethereum’s power consumption by 99.8% and prompted miners to unplug an estimated $5 billion worth of mining hardware.
Sifu reappears with new money market protocol
Controversial entrepreneur splits Aave’s lending business
Ethereum Classic and the newly forked ETHW chain promised to take over a large number of Ethereum’s former miners. However, the question arose as to whether the networks could support a large influx of hash rates without forcing their miners to operate at a loss.
Ethereum Classic’s hash rate, which has been dubbed the top haven for Ethereum miners, is down 47.6% from its peak of nearly 307 terahashes per second (TH/s) on the day of The Merge, according to 2miners. According to CoinGecko data, Ethereum Classic’s ETC token is down 4.7% over the past seven days, compared to a 0.5% surge for Ethereum.
Despite the pullback, the network’s hash rate is still 52% higher than when The Defiant last spoke to Ethereum Classic miners and reported that EtHash miners could expect negative profits for the chain’s validation.
With a market cap of $4 billion, Ethereum Classic is the third-ranked proof-of-work network behind Bitcoin and Dogecoin — neither of which can support EtHash mining hardware.
hashing power
Ergo, it was the chain that enjoyed the second-largest influx of hashing power after The Merge, behind Ethereum Classic, with its hash rate increasing by 590% to 234 TH/s on the day of the merge. But, no surprise, the chain’s profitability plummeted, causing most of the newly accumulated hash rate to abandon the chain.
Ergo’s hash rate is now just 25.9 TH/s, its lowest since September 13. Ergo is the 19th PoW network by market cap at $161 million.
ETHW, the Proof of Work Ethereum fork launched by miners on September 16th, is also not a haven for Ethereum miners. Its hash rate immediately surged to 79.4 TH/s, but then dropped to a local low below 28 TH/s on September 23.
Although the hash rate has since increased to 45 TH/s, the network still seems unsuitable to support Ethereum miners. It generates $144,500 worth of rewards daily.
mining rewards
Despite the network hosting just 5% of Ethereum’s pre-Merge hash rate, the mining rewards are only 0.7% of the rewards issued by Ethereum before The Merge – suggesting an 86% drop in revenue.
ETHW is the 7th largest PoW network by market cap at $1.2B.
Ravencoin is the only proof-of-work network supporting EtHash to maintain its post-merge, likely due to the network’s adjustment of rewards as its hash rate increases and decreases.
“RVN has a smooth difficulty adjustment, so it handled the influx well,” Tron Black, the president of the Ravencoin Foundation, told The Defiant. Black added that the network’s difficulty adjusts every minute.
Ravencoin’s hash rate is now 16.8 TH/s after falling about a quarter from its post-merge high. Ravencoin is the 10th PoW network with a market cap of $444.4 million.
Learn Crypto Trading, Yield Farms, Income strategies and more at CrytoAnswers
https://nov.link/cryptoanswers
Comments are closed.