Ethereum Classic’s hash rate soars 280% in a single day

Proof-of-work blockchain Ethereum Classic has recorded a large spike in hash rate as miners close shop on the now proof-of-stake Ethereum.

On Thursday, its hash rate — a measure of crypto mining output — shot up to 183 terahashes per second (TH/s), 280% higher than the 64 TH/s hash rate 24 hours ago.

Notably, Ethereum Classic’s hash rate has witnessed a 500% growth in the last 30 days, according to data from mining pool 2Miners.

The sudden hash rate growth followed Ethereum’s successful transition from proof of work to a proof of stake consensus. After this upgrade, Ethereum no longer requires miners. 

Prior to The Merge, Ethereum miners had collectively spent billions on mining equipment over the years. So it was expected that post-Merge, Ethereum’s hash rate would flow to other proof-of-work chains. Ahead of The Merge, mining pools had already mulled an expansion to Ethereum Classic, viewing it a viable proof-of-work alternative blockchain to Ethereum. 

Ethereum Classic’s mining algorithm called Ethash is compatible with mining equipment used on Ethereum. Hence, the native crypto asset on Ethereum Classic called ETC can be mined with the same GPU and ASIC-based mining machines manufactured previously for Ethereum.

Per the latest data, Ethermine is the largest mining pool on Ethereum Classic, contributing about 57 TH/s from a total number of 30,647 individual miners. Ethermine was the leading mining pool on Ethereum before The Merge.

Other proof-of-work blockchains have witnessed a similar trend. The hash rate on the Ergo blockchain shot up by more than 390%, up from 27 TH/s to now 107 TH/s in one day, per 2Miners. Similarly, Ravencoin’s hash rate has nearly doubled in a day as it soared from 8 TH/s to 15.52 TH/s.

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