By
Bhushan Akolkar
April 23rd, 2024
The leading mining pool on Ethereum, Ethermine, has become the largest mining pool on Ethereum Classic after the Merge.
The Ethereum Classic blockchain has witnessed a momentous spike in its hash rate as miners migrate from the Ethereum blockchain.
For years, miners kept the Ethereum blockchain going while it ran on the proof of Work mechanism. However, the transition to a PoS mechanism meant that miners will be replaced by validators. As expected, these miners have moved to other blockchains that run the PoW ecosystem.
Among these, Ethereum Classic leads the way. Barely 24 hours after the Merge, Ethereum Classic’s hash rate has jumped from 64TH/s to 214TH/s, up by over 330%. According to 2Miners, the blockchain hash rate has grown steadily in the last 30 days. Data suggests the hash rate has increased by as much as 500%.
Jump in Ethereum Classic Hash Rate Just as Expected
The jump in hash rate is not surprising since Ethereum Classic’s mining algorithm is compatible with PoW Ethereum. Known as Ethash, the algorithm allows the mining of Ethereum Classic (ETC) with the same mining machines previously used for the Ethereum chain.
So far, the leading mining pool on Ethereum, Ethermine, has become the largest mining pool on Ethereum Classic after the Merge. With over 30,000 miners, the mining pool contributes about 57TH/s.
Meanwhile, it’s not just Ethereum Classic that has seen a growth in hash rate. According to 2Miners, Ergo blockchain saw a rise in hash rate from 27TH/s to 136TH/s. Likewise, Ravencoin doubled its hash rate from 8TH/s to about 16TH/s.
Group to Develop PoWEthereum with Hard Fork
Meanwhile, several other crypto mining pools on the Ethereum blockchain are preparing a hard fork of the Ethereum mainnet later today. The team, led by Chandler Gu, believes it is ‘prudent to continue a PoW Ethereum’.
Together with the developers, the team will develop and maintain a PoW Ethereum. According to them, “if PoS Ethereum is really so great, why be afraid of competition?”
Earlier today, several Ethereum mining pools, including BTC.com, F2Pool, Nanopool, and Poolin, announced support for ETHW mining. Also, the group noted that many other mining pools were conducting mining tests using data from its testnet. Whether or not PoW Ethereum will also witness an increase in its hash rate will be clear once the hard fork takes place.