The popularity of Ethereum Classic [ETC] has increased in the last few weeks. This has, especially, been the case due to the Ethereum 2.0 merge’s final stages.
Its price also soared, especially, as miners migrated in favor of Ethereum Classic as the ‘next big thing’ for miners. This view is about to be challenged especially now that EthereumPoW (ETHW) has been confirmed.
ETHW rumors have been around for quite some time but there was no official confirmation. The idea was sparked by expectations that the Merge would lead to a hard fork where a new network (Ethereum POS) will run parallel to the old POW Ethereum chain.
Ethereum developers confirmed that ETHW will become a reality.
ETHW mainnet will happen within 24 hours after the Merge. The exact time will be announced 1 hour before launch with a countdown timer and everything including final code, binaries, config files, nodes info, RPC, explorer, etc. will be made public when the time’s up.
2/n
— EthereumPoW (ETHW) Official #ETHW #ETHPoW (@EthereumPoW) September 12, 2022
The announcement represents an important development for Ethereum miners and might be bearish news for ETC.
The latter traded at a 179% premium from its July lows, demonstrating strong price action since the market bottomed out. One of the key reasons for ETC’s strong price action was the miner exodus from Ethereum.
Battle of the forks
ETC’s hash rate increased substantially in the last few weeks courtesy of the miner migration. This outcome has subsequently boosted ETC investors’ sentiment now that the alt had been receiving a lot of attention.
The announcement means most of the Ethereum miners may opt to switch to EthereumPoW. A potential negative outcome for ETC would be miner outflows in favor of the EthereumPoW chain. The two blockchain networks will compete for projects that prefer a PoW network as opposed to PoS.
There have been mixed reactions to the EthereumPoW launch. Some believe that the only reason for its existence is to provide miners with revenue opportunities. Blockchain developer, Igor Artamonov, had this to say about the situation.
As someone who played a role in the Ethereum Classic launch, I decided to look at what’s on with the Ethereum PoW. Well, their chances are low, and let me tell you why 🧵 1/9
— Igor Artamonov (@splix) September 12, 2022
The blockchain developer is convinced that the EthereumPoW is headed for failure. Meanwhile, ETC already has a strong community and stands fully operational. Nevertheless, the EthereumPoW is still a credible threat to ETC if it succeeds in its mission.
At press time, ETC was up by 4.51% since 13 September. A confirmation that the latest announcement about EthereumPoW has not yet spoofed ETC investors. Meanwhile, its hash rate continues climbing.
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