There is never a boring day in the cryptocurrency space. Ethereum Classic has noted a new hashrate all-time high, although that shouldn’t surprise too many people either. Ethereum miners need to find a new home for their hardware and some may already be jumping ship ahead of The Merge.
Ethereum Classic Hashrate Spikes
Various blockchains and networks support the Ethash mining algorithm. Ethereum is the obvious chance, but Ethereum Classic has proven an intriguing alternative. Especially with The Merge around the corner, miners will need to find a new solution. There is a chance the network may split into two, with one chain continuing the PoW fork, although its economic viability would be minimal.
The safer choice is jumping ship to Ethereum Classic. Doing so would require minimal changes to one’s setup, and rewards would be on par with what ETH miners get today. Moreover, there is far less network competition, making it rather appealing. However, that competition has already started heating up, as ETC’s network hit a new hashrate all-time high of over 35.279 Thash/second.
That sudden influx of mining power needs to come from somewhere. A logical conclusion is several Ethereum miners are exploring Ethereum Classic to see how their earnings would stack up. An interesting idea, although it won’t necessarily provide a valid sample pool. If all miners were to switch to ETC, no one would be making a profit ever again. As such, the decision to mine ETC is not as cut-and-dried as some miners would like.
It is interesting to see this hashrate all-time high for Ethereum Classic at this stage. The network has been on a steady mining power decline since late April 2022. It also saw the network hashrate bottom at just over 1.6 terahash/second in September 2020. It is safe to say ETC has been put through a wringer, so this new hashrate all-time high is a big milestone for the ecosystem.
Is It Really That Profitable?
For most miners, crypto mining comes down to squeezing every cent of profit from their operation. So opting to mine Ethereum Classic makes sense, even if the profit per MH/s – assuming a 600 MH/s operation – is $0.82. That only applies to electricity costs at or below $0.1 per kWh, otherwise, things would be even worse. The same mining operation pointed at Ethereum generates $15.17 in profit, although that will all end after The Merge.
Other alternatives – although less certain ones – include Nicehash-Ethash – with alleged profitability of $14.67 – or Etho – with a profitability of $0.35. Granted, GPU mining rigs can mine a fair few algorithms, so there will undoubtedly be other options beyond Ethash. However, finding a profitable network to mine for a longer period will be very tricky, and Ethereum Classic may end up being the safe bet.
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