Following the Ethereum Merge on September 15, Ethereum‘s rival, who advocates the proof-of-work consensus mechanism, launched ETHPoW on its mainnet.
Key Takeaway
- The mainnet for the Ethereum proof-of-work chain has launched.
- The ETHW token is now available on over ten exchanges, with over 1.7 billion transactions taking place.
- The price of ETHW has fallen sharply, down nearly 75% over the last 24 hours to $12.98.
What Is EthereumPoW (ETHW)?
The EthereumPoW network is a fork of the Ethereum network. In simple terms, a fork changes the functionality of the blockchain network drastically. EthereumPoW is born because a small but vocal group of the crypto community believes that the network should stick to the proof-of-work consensus mechanism. Many of these are miners, who wish to hold onto their revenue as Ethereum has switched to the proof-of-stake mechanism on September 15. In recent months, prominent crypto miner Chandler Guo and others have campaigned for ETHW, claiming Ethereum 2.0 will drive crypto miners out of work.
The native token for the EthereumPoW network is ETHW, though this is only supported by some exchanges. Individuals can trade on these exchanges, with the token available for spot trading on exchanges like FTX, ByBit, and BitMart.
The EthereumPoW team released an update to accompany the mainnet launch, informing readers of some changes and fixes. Since the launch, there have been over 1.7 billion transactions. The total number of addresses holding ETHW now stands at over 254 million.
Projects Taking to ETHPoW Network
In the short time since the launch of the EthereumPoW network, several projects have begun supporting the ecosystem. These include many decentralized wallets, decentralized exchanges, and other Web3 platforms. A few examples are Uniswap V3, MetaMask, and DefiEdge.
Mining pools, which have switched to other networks following Ethereum’s transition to a proof-of-stake, have also begun mining ETHW. F2pool and others have begun diverting resources to the token, with the mining pool making up 41.7% of the known hash rate. Woolypooly has 21.5% of the block distribution, followed by 2miners at 14.1%.
Nearly a dozen exchanges support ETHW at the moment, with FTX having the highest volume of $47 million over the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, Coinbase has confirmed that it would consider listing forked Ethereum. More exchanges are expected to support the project in the coming days.
ETHW Price Dropped By 75%
The token is down by nearly 75% over the last 24 hours, sitting at $12.98. In spite of support from the crypto exchanges, the token has very little support from the wider crypto community. The team behind ETHPoW was criticized for delaying its launch until hours after the Ethereum Merge. For instance, Igor Artamonov, a former Ethereum Classic developer, took to Twitter to highlight the project’s failure to prepare a block explorer, wallet, and public Remote Procedure Call software.
Meanwhile, there is another fork called EthereumFair (ETF), which is challenging ETHW. Amid the chaos, it remains to be seen how the new token will be able to navigate.