Has The Ethereum Merge Killed Cryptocurrency Mining For Good?

On 15 September 2022, the long-awaited Ethereum Merge lastly occurred. After a long time utilizing a proof-of-work consensus mechanism, the Ethereum blockchain finally transitioned to proof-of-stake, the same system utilized by other cryptocurrencies like Cardano, Solana, and Polygon. With it, Ethereum's vitality consumption was dramatically decreased.


It also claimed another casualty: cryptocurrency mining.
But is crypto mining lifeless as a result of the Merge? Or do Ethereum miners have a chance at mining different cryptocurrencies?


What Was Ethereum Mining and Why Has It Stopped?
Pre-Merge, the 2 top blockchains, Bitcoin and Ethereum, worked on a proof-of-work mechanism. That meant that people might mine-lend computing power so the blockchain can confirm transactions-in change for a reward. Each block mined rewards users a certain quantity of cryptocurrency-1000's of dollars per block (plus transaction fees). To make mining simpler, some miners organized in "swimming pools" where they would pool computing power and split the reward of every block, with rewards paid out depending on how much computing energy every miner contributed.

Bitcoin was initially mineable with consumer hardware (CPUs), however down the highway, the mining issue increased to the point where goal-constructed mining hardware like ASICs are wanted to have a remotely acceptable revenue. The problem of Ethereum, however, did not increase that much. That, combined with the fact that the Ether cryptocurrency skyrocketed in worth (reaching an all-time high of $4,800 at its peak), meant that Ethereum was a straightforward blockchain to mine in, one that gave amazing earnings to even small-scale miners.

For example, with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, you can mine as much as $25 a week or $100-$125 within a month (depending in your electricity prices!). With a excessive-end RTX 3090, you possibly can easily make over twice that amount. Once you've got recovered the money you invested, it was principally a very easy, stable revenue. The Ethereum mining rush was partly to blame for the truth that the RTX 3000-collection GPUs were non-existent on retailer shelves when launched in 2020, with crypto miners instantly snagging the few GPUs that did make it to retail.

Of course, all (good?) issues finally come to an end. As worthwhile as Ethereum mining was, the ability consumption generated by that observe was huge, ultimately damaging the atmosphere. And the community itself was risky, to the purpose the place gasoline prices might spike and make transactions absurdly expensive. The Ethereum 2.0 Merge aims to fix each issues for the greater good, transferring issues ahead to proof-of-stake. However in the method, it is leaving miners behind without their most important source of revenue.


Ethereum Mining Options
Frequent logic would dictate that if Ethereum mining is gone, people can go and mine one thing else. And while they can (Ethereum 1.Zero miners try very hard to give you an alternate), it isn't as simple as that.


Let us take a look at some alternate options miners are considering.
Alternative Blockchains/Coins

First off, the plain option: attempt something else. There are many cryptocurrencies out there, like Ravencoin, ZCoin, and others.

Bitcoin mining is out of the question, as it is so tough to mine that making an attempt to do so with a daily GPU-primarily based rig is pointless, particularly if you're a small-scale miner. If you wish to see an appropriate profit, you will need an ASIC-based mostly rig, which can be pricey. With the price of Bitcoin fluctuating closely, even if it is worthwhile at a certain level, a sharp drop can flip the scene round utterly.

As for other cryptocurrencies, the difficulty might not be excessive, but most of them lack a tangible neighborhood, and because of this, they are not that valuable. While you mine something, you do it to get a reward out of it, and if that reward is value principally nothing, there isn't any level in doing so. Probably the most you can get out of Ravencoin with an RTX 3090 is $25 a month, and other cryptos provide even much less. Are  EthereumPoW  earning profits or just damaging your hardware and wasting sources to get a number of additional dollars in change?


Ethereum Forks
After all, we also have Ethereum forks. Two specific forks have made headlines since the Merge. Ethereum Traditional (And many others), the original Ethereum blockchain, predates the Merge by a few years, and is the continuation of the first iteration of Ethereum. Ethereum 1.0 was really a fork of And so forth and became the extra widespread choice.


Moreover, post-Merge, a brand new fork also appeared, dubbed "Ethereum Proof-of-Work" (ETHW).
Each And so forth and ETHW are potential replacements for Ethereum to maintain the dough rolling. And indeed, attributable to media consideration and miners gathering around each crypto, their value has increased. ETHW was trading at roughly $5 when The Merge occurred, and its value was round $8 as of the time of writing, as per CoinMarketCap. Trying on the CoinMarketCap And so on chart, that foreign money's price has dipped. Even in the event that they manage to go up, whether or not they will keep the momentum is one other thing. Mining one thing alone would not guarantee it's going to go up in value. It's a matter of provide and demand-there is likely to be a lot of supply, but if there is no demand, it will be price nothing.

According to TheNewsCrypto, one of many organizers of the ETHW fork, Chandler Guo, believes the ETHW worth will ultimately catch up with Ethereum down the road, over the subsequent decade. He is very optimistic about it, however the outlook is muddier for us. We also have to needless to say for a lot of miners, mining was their primary supply of earnings. Most crypto miners will not be in it for the lengthy haul and won't mine one thing blindly believing in a concept or the hope its value will enhance in 10 years. They want money now. And right now, as of the time of writing, neither And many others nor ETHW is profitable to mine. You will get, at most, a few cents every single day.


Crypto Mining is Useless (At the very least for Now)
Except a brand new, shiny various to Ethereum comes up, one that individuals will truly need to use for other purposes that are not simply mining, GPU crypto mining is successfully completed. If in case you have a GPU-primarily based rig, there's essentially no objective proper now to mining.

You will be damaging your hardware, bringing your energy invoice up, and all for a few cents. It isn't price it, in case you ask us.