Will Ethereum Proof-of-Work (ETHW) Make a Splash by Inheriting ETH's "Legacy"?

Since Ethereum's successful transition to Proof-of-Stake (PoS), many coins benefiting from this change have rapidly declined in value. However, one notable exception, Ethereum Proof-of-Work (ETHW), has emerged as a hot topic in the community. But will this project prove to be sustainable?

What’s Left After The Merge

Following Ethereum's transition to PoS, the hashrate of Ether shifted significantly to coins that share the same mining algorithm, leading to a substantial rise for these PoW coins.

While it seemed like a perfect scenario for PoW coins, it has mostly turned out to be a temporary wave. Most PoW coins have experienced sharp declines of 30-40% within days of The Merge. In the past week alone, this group has continued to drop by an additional 3-5% on average.

Popular PoW Coins in the Market Today
Source: CoinMarketCap

Among these, Ethereum Classic (ETC) stands out. According to data from 2miner, ETC's hashrate peaked at a historic level of 306.68 TH/s on September 15, 2022, with the price of ETC reaching an impressive $41.8, nearing its August 2022 high of $45.71.

1D ETC/USDT Price Chart on September 26, 2022
Source: Binance

However, as of September 26, the overall hashrate of ETC has almost halved, dropping to 160.2 TH/s, a 46.16% decrease from the peak.

ETC Hashrate as of September 26
Source: 2miner

Even Ethereum itself has not escaped the downturn affecting the entire crypto market, despite the significant boost from The Merge. Ethereum has continuously dropped from around $1,600 to below $1,300.

1D ETH/USDT Price Chart on September 26, 2022
Source: Binance

To understand why what was seen as one of Ethereum's most important upgrades didn't positively impact Ether's price, check out our detailed analysis here:

Can ETHW Create a "Miracle"?

Despite Ethereum's mixed performance in terms of price and investor appeal following The Merge, Ethereum Proof-of-Work (ETHW) is emerging as a key trend closely linked to Ether.

When EthereumPoW (ETHW) activated its chain split, it quickly gained strong support, not only from investors anticipating a major airdrop but also from miners who view ETHW as a "lifeline" for their mining operations. Leading exchanges like FTX, Huobi, Kraken, Poloniex, and Bitfinex have quickly listed ETHW tokens for trading.

Moreover, EthereumPoW (ETHW) has effectively leveraged Ethereum’s legacy by inviting projects and dApps to build on the new blockchain, enhancing its ecosystem.

In simple terms, while the original Ethereum (PoS) once hosted numerous applications, ETHW aims to replicate this success by allowing developers to "copy" projects from the old Ethereum to ETHW, operating on PoW instead of PoS.

Additionally, ETHW has partnered with DeFi Llama – a leading transparent DeFi dashboard – and is making moves into the NFT space by giving away free NFTs to celebrate ETHW’s launch.

The key point here is that ETHW retains the "soul" of Ethereum and continues to develop a comprehensive ecosystem and infrastructure. This has instilled significant confidence in investors.

As a result, ETHW's hashrate has nearly doubled in the past week, climbing from a low of 28 TH/s to a peak of 51.65 TH/s at the time of writing.

ETHW Hashrate as of September 26
Source: 2miner

ETHW’s price has surged dramatically, increasing over 300% from around $4.8 to nearly $14, with the trend continuing upward.

ETHW Price Chart for the Past 7 Days as of September 26, 2022
Source: CoinMarketCap

However, despite the strong community enthusiasm and hype surrounding ETHW, it remains to be seen if ETHW can achieve long-term sustainable growth. Historically, a similar situation occurred with Bitcoin Cash (BCH), a fork of Bitcoin in 2017.

At that time, BCH was supported by many exchanges and gained significant attention, skyrocketing from $289 to $4,300. However, BCH’s performance later deteriorated, and the project has faded over time, trading at $113.77.

Historical BCH/USD Price Chart as of September 26, 2022
Source: TradingView