Miners are leaving Ethereum for another cryptocurrency

news hardware Miners are leaving Ethereum for another cryptocurrency

Ethereum in the hearts of cryptocurrency miners

Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency behind Bitcoin, has been filling the coffers of graphics card providers for several years. In just two years, its price has multiplied by 40 if we refer to its ATH (all-time high, value record) of November 2021.

By surging from a hundred dollars to almost $5,000, Ethereum has been able to attract miners of all types, professional or not. Less energy-intensive than bitcoin, the cryptocurrency has established itself both on mining farms and in the homes of amateur miners. This strong enthusiasm has contributed in part to the graphics card supply shortages we’ve been experiencing lately…and left some gamers on the sidelines.

The merger will change miner habits

Only mining aficionados will have to resort to a cryptocurrency by the end of the year. In fact, Ether can no longer be mined with computing power as the second largest cryptocurrency network will switch its protocol from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake.

Therefore, the many miners using mining rigs that host several dozen graphics cards will be forced to sell their equipment or switch to another crypto to be mined.

Aware of the disappointment of some users after the update scheduled for September 2022, the CEO of Ethereum himself advised miners to switch to Ethereum Classic. At the EThCC community conference, Vitalik Buterin suggested that miners using Proof of Work should switch to the classic cryptocurrency Ethereum.

Ethereum Classic, the little sister of Ethereum, a cryptocurrency of choice for miners

Like the game World of Warcraft (which Vitalik Buterin particularly likes), Ethereum also has a “classic” version. Specifically, Ethereum Classic is the original version of Ethereum without the multitude of updates that have been made since its birth. This allows Ethereum Classic to be mined despite the Ethereum Proof-of-Stake update.

So if Ethereum needs capital to be mined, it is very likely that several miners will set out with their graphics cards to mine Ethereum Classic. In the absence of an update, Ethereum Classic works like it was in its infancy. Miners will not be out of place, therefore, as this is the original Ethereum blockchain, launched in 2015.

The philosophy behind Eth Classic is close to Bitcoin. In fact, the Ethereum Classic community puts the code at the center: regardless of the security threats, humans should not intervene because the code is theoretically sufficient on its own.

Because of this, the Ethereum Classic network operates under a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization). This system allows each of the users to vote on various cryptocurrency decisions.

The Birth of Ethereum Classic

Ethereum Classic was born in 2016 after the Ethereum network was hacked. A year after its launch, Ethereum was the victim of a hack worth 3.6 million Ether (ETH), up from around 50 million.

With the goal of finding a solution to this extraordinary hack, the founders and users of Ethereum decided to create a hard fork. A “fork” occurs when a community decides to change the protocol of the blockchain or a set of its rules with the goal of creating a split on the blockchain. By resetting the blockchain, the sleight of hand allowed users to find the $50 million locked in the Ethereum system.

Since that event, Ethereum Classic has continued on its way. Much like its big sister Ethereum, the cryptocurrency has built an active community that ranks it among the top 20 cryptos by market cap. Will the massive influx of miners push up the price of Ethereum Classic? See you in September…