PoW blockchain hash rates jump: Will ETC, RVN, ERG prices follow?
10:15, 16 September 2022
Ethereum miners are taking their setups elsewhere as the blockchain successfully switched to proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus method.
Ravencoin (RVN), ethereum classic (ETC) and ergo (ERG) have all seen their hash rates – the computational power used to process proof-of-work transactions – surge over the past week.
The prices of various proof-of-work (PoW) assets are up over the past week, suggesting investors have followed this migration of miners. However, the initial draw seems to be waning.
RVN and ERG’s pre-Merge surge
In the lead up to Ethereum’s transformation, PoW cryptocurrency ravencoin saw a breakout from a long-term bearish trend.
RVN reached a 90-day high of $0.07529 on 14 September, the day before the ETH Merge. This was an increase of 177% from its 30-day low of $0.02726 set on 28 August.
RVN to USD
However, it has since lost some of these gains. As of 16 September, ravencoin was trading at $0.052, down 16% over the past 24 hours, following Ethereum’s successful completion of The Merge.
Ergo has witnessed a similar trend with the price of ERG. After opening September at $3.22, it climbed to a 90-day high of $5.20 on 15 September, a 61% increase.
ERG has since corrected and was trading below the $5 level on 16 September.
ETC struggling
Ethereum classic, the third largest PoW cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, did not follow the same breakout. While it saw a rally in July, it has recently been trading sideways.
As of 16 September, following The Merge, ETC was down more than 11% over the past seven days and trading at around $34.24.
ETC to USD
The most popular PoW crypto
Ethereum Classic is still in the mix when it comes to miners.
Popularity of these blockchains can be measured by their hash rate. When PoW blockchains see an increase of miners, it drives the difficulty up for processing transactions. This in turn pushes up the blockchain’s hash rate, the computational power necessary for completing a block.
According to 2miners, ETC appears to be a popular destination for miners as it has one of the highest rates of 234 terahashes per second (Th/s), at the time of writing on 16 September. This rocketed from just under 50 Th/s the week before.
Ergo also saw a spike on the week of the Ethereum merge. It jumped from the 23 Th/s mark on the 9 September to a high of 425 Th/s on 15 September.
At the time of writing, ergo’s hash rate has fallen below 200 Th/s. This drop follows the launch of the PoW Ethereum fork, which continues to use the blockchain’s old consensus mechanism and launched ethereumPoW (ETHW) after The Merge.
As ERG’s hash rate decline shows, the cryptocurrency industry is a quickly changing landscape.
If you are considering investing in cryptocurrency tokens, you are recommended to always do your own research. Keep in mind that past performance is no guarantee of future returns and never trade with money that you cannot afford to lose.
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