The world's largest Ethereum mining pool, Ethermine, has officially announced that it will cease proof-of-work (PoW) mining once the Ethereum network completes The Merge. According to the announcement, the pool will switch to withdraw-only mode, and miners can continue mining Ether until the countdown reaches zero.
Countdown to The Merge
Ethereum is expected to transition from PoW to proof-of-stake (PoS) around September 15, 2022. In a blog post, Ethermine stated: “The mining phase of Ethereum will come to an end on the 15th of September 2022. After this date, it will no longer be possible to mine ether on the Ethereum network using graphic cards (GPUs) or ASICs.” An accurate countdown timer has been added to the miner dashboard, allowing miners to continue mining until it reaches zero.
As the world's largest Ethereum mining pool, Ethermine currently commands 262.79 TH/s of hashrate, far ahead of second-placed F2pool with 127.48 TH/s. This decision means over 260 TH/s of hashrate must find new destinations.
ETHW Fork and Miners' Exodus
Earlier, some community members proposed a PoW fork of Ethereum called ETHW, though the fork has not yet been launched. Several exchanges have listed ETHW IOU tokens, but the price has plunged 63% from a high of $139.62 to around $50.68, reflecting cautious sentiment.
Meanwhile, Ethereum Classic (ETC) has seen a 39% surge in hashrate over the past four days, reaching an all-time high of over 38 TH/s on August 20. Other Ethash-based coins like Ravencoin (RVN), Ergo (ERGO), and Beam (BEAM) have not experienced similar hashrate gains, indicating miners are favoring ETC as their primary migration destination.
Industry Impact and Outlook
Ethermine's exit marks the end of an era for Ethereum mining. The redistribution of massive hashrate and the development of potential PoW fork chains remain to be seen. Miners now face critical decisions: switch to ETC, ETHW, or other GPU-mineable coins, or liquidate their equipment and exit mining altogether.
For the global mining community, The Merge represents not only a consensus mechanism shift but also a fundamental restructuring of the entire mining industry. Ethermine's countdown reminds us that the PoW era of Ethereum is less than a month away from its conclusion.