Ethereum Classic (ETC) Hashrate Soars Ahead of The Merge

It is the event of the day, even of the last few years. Ethereum (ETH) moves to proof of stake thanks to The Merge, a step that was particularly awaited by the community. And old ETH miners are looking for new options… Including Ethereum Classic (ETC), which has seen its hashrate soar. Will this affect its course?

Ethereum Classic hashrate is skyrocketing…

According to data collected by CoinWarz, the hashrate, i.e. the computing power used on the Ethereum Classic network, reached 68.86 Th/s today. As a reminder, the higher the hashrate, the greater the number of miners on the network.

It is logical: the miners who until then devoted themselves to ETH are looking for new blockchains. And Ethereum Classic, which is the “original” version of Ethereum, seems a natural fit. The network has indeed chosen to continue with its proof-of-work consensus mechanism.

It will be recalled that Ethereum Classic is generally little used, this rush towards the network is apparently strictly motivated by the lure of profit. It is a way for former ETH miners to make their machines profitable.

… but not its price

The proof is that this renewed enthusiasm did not allow the ETC to take off. It has, however, seen high volatility since the end of last month. The cryptocurrency experienced a significant pump in early September, taking +33% in the space of one day… Before falling just as sharply the following day.

In the end, the ETC price shows -14% over the month, and -36% over the year. Which would seem to indicate that The Merge won’t necessarily allow the network to move forward. But nothing is of course played. It will also be necessary to rely on EthPoW, a hard fork of Ethereum supposed to bring together those who wish to continue to use proof of work.

Will this renewed interest in ETC mining last? We can doubt it, as Ethereum Classic has been little talked about in recent years. It will probably take a few weeks to see how Ethereum miners have migrated and to which chains.