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ETHW mainnet launch: ETHPoW advocates vow to continue mining despite Ethereum Merge

By Daniela Ešnerová

13:23, 16 September 2022

Representation of the Ethereum logo with words proof of stake
After The Merge, Ethereum chain was forked and a new token ETHW was born. – Photo: Shutterstock

Ethereum may now officially be a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain following The Merge, but its proof-of-work (PoW) version lives on. On 15 September 2022, Ethereum’s original blockchain finally merged with the Beacon Chain, which first launched on 1 December 2020.

The crypto world largely cheered the transition, which it has been estimated should cut Ethereum’s energy consumption by 99.98% and shave 0.2% off the world’s energy consumption.

But not everyone is excited...

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ETHW genesis

A group of ETH developers, who have come together as the ETHW Core, came out against the network’s transition to proof-of-stake. 

“PoS is indeed a game changer, but only in bad ways,” wrote ETHW Core in an open letter last month. “Nevertheless, PoW has a 12-year track record of being reliable, robust, and censorship resistant.

“It is only prudent to continue a PoW Ethereum, which should be a no-brainer for those who champion openness and the free market as there is no downside. After all, if PoS Ethereum is really so great, why be afraid of competition?”

ETH/USD

3,708.08 Price
+2.490% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0616%
Short position overnight fee 0.0137%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 1.75

DOGE/USD

0.42 Price
+1.640% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0616%
Short position overnight fee 0.0137%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 0.0020953

XRP/USD

2.67 Price
+1.320% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0616%
Short position overnight fee 0.0137%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 0.01331

XLM/USD

0.52 Price
-0.640% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0616%
Short position overnight fee 0.0137%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 0.00258

Since then, ETHW Core launched its mainnet within eight hours following The Merge, as it had previously signaled. The move – known as a hard fork – split the PoW chain from the newly-merged Ethereum one and gave a birth to a new token, ethereumPoW (ETHW).

A plethora of mining pools, including F2Pool, Poolin, AntPool and 2miners, have carried on mining after the mainnet launch.

In addition, a number of cryptocurrency exchanges, including OKX or Kraken, have also started distributing the new chain’s token to ETH holders.

The token ETHW has been on a wild ride so far – experiencing lows of $9.29 and heights of $28.86 over the last 24 hours, data from CoinMarketCap shows.

Markets in this article

ETH/USD
Ethereum / USD
3708.08 USD
89.87 +2.490%

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The difference between trading assets and CFDs
The main difference between CFD trading and trading assets, such as commodities and stocks, is that you don’t own the underlying asset when you trade on a CFD.
You can still benefit if the market moves in your favour, or make a loss if it moves against you. However, with traditional trading you enter a contract to exchange the legal ownership of the individual shares or the commodities for money, and you own this until you sell it again.
CFDs are leveraged products, which means that you only need to deposit a percentage of the full value of the CFD trade in order to open a position. But with traditional trading, you buy the assets for the full amount. In the UK, there is no stamp duty on CFD trading, but there is when you buy stocks, for example.
CFDs attract overnight costs to hold the trades (unless you use 1-1 leverage), which makes them more suited to short-term trading opportunities. Stocks and commodities are more normally bought and held for longer. You might also pay a broker commission or fees when buying and selling assets direct and you’d need somewhere to store them safely.
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