Ethereum Miners are considering a Hard Fork Following Ethereum’s Merger

With Ethereum’s merge from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake expected to happen in September 2022, many are excited for the future of cryptocurrency and Web3 with the network’s efficiency poised to skyrocket. 

However, not everyone is looking forward to the merge. Earlier this summer, we published an article speculating what would happen to the nodes mining Ethereum following the merge. It looks like a certain portion of the miners are banding together to push for a hard fork on the network which would create a new  blockchain that still uses Proof-of-Work. 

Miners are not happy with the merge

The frustration from Ethereum miners begins with the changes to the network that a PoS system will create. Once the network switches over to the new consensus mechanism mining Ethereum blocks will be impossible because the network will begin using validators instead of miners. 

Unfortunately, because Ethereum is such a massive network, it was one of the most financially stable and profitable blockchains for miners to operate on; but now that mining will be coming to an end the people operating these large mining facilities are at a risk of losing their businesses. 

While alternative Proof-of-Work networks still exist, they are not nearly as sustainable as Etheruem mining which would cause many of the mining farms to receive reduced revenue. This is presenting a huge conundrum for many miners that are struggling to find a solution. 

One miner wants to make a PoW fork

However, a former Etherum miner named Chandler Guo has thought through the situation and developed an ambitious plan to create a forked Ethereum blockchain which will continue to utilize the Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism. 

In an interview with Forkast, Mr. Guo goes on to explain that, while the project has potential to keep many Ethereum miners in business, it is ultimately going to be an intense uphill battle as they try to rebuild a network from the ground up because the Ethereum Foundation has no interest in being involved with the continued use of PoW. 

TheDAO Hack

This isn’t the first time that a fork on the Ethereum network has been discussed either. In fact, the Ethereum mainnet which is used today is a fork of the original Ethereum blockchain which was infamously hacked in 2016 for $60 Million. Due to the severity of the hack, the Ethereum Foundation put out a controversial vote to hard fork the blockchain which the community agreed on to protect their funds. 

The vote was created in an effort to protect the Ethereum user base, the execution required the blockchain to be rolled back before the hack was triggered which caused many to question the immutability of the Ethereum blockchain, breaking the Code is Law rule. 

Because the vote broke a fundamental concept of blockchain technology, a select minority of Ethereum users decided to remain on the original Ethereum blockchain which was soon called Ethereum Classic. 

Following the vote to fork Ethereum’s mainnet onto a new blockchain, the original Ethereum Classic chain continued on without much activity. While there is a community still present on the ETC network, much of the features present on the Official Ethereum mainnet are missing from Ethereum Classic which lacks the same utilities. 

ETC has investment from AntPoolMiner

With the news that the merge is finally going to happen (and knowing how miners feel about the merge), AntPool - which is affiliated with Bitmain - has agreed to invest $10 million into the Ethereum Classic network because it will remain on the Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism. 

So, instead of another fork on the Ethereum mainnet, it might be easier (and more profitable) for Ethereum miners to simply consider returning to the Ethereum Classic blockchain where they can continue operating their mining nodes on a familiar cryptocurrency.