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PoW blockchain hash rates jump: Will ETC, RVN, ERG prices follow?

By Raphael Sanis

10:15, 16 September 2022

Representation of a miner hitting a crypto coin with a pickaxe
Ethereum Classic, Ravencoin and Ergo seem to be popular blockchains among miners – Photo: Shutterstock

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.

ETH/USD

3,930.36 Price
+1.950% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0616%
Short position overnight fee 0.0137%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 1.75

BTC/USD

102,847.00 Price
+5.140% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0616%
Short position overnight fee 0.0137%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 50.00

DOGE/USD

0.45 Price
+6.000% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0616%
Short position overnight fee 0.0137%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 0.0022431

XLM/USD

0.49 Price
-1.080% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0616%
Short position overnight fee 0.0137%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 0.00247

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.

Markets in this article

ETC/BTC
ETC/BTC
0.0003786 USD
-0.0000247 -6.340%
ETH/USD
Ethereum / USD
3930.36 USD
75.15 +1.950%
RVN/USD
Ravencoin / USD
0.03425 USD
-0.00038 -1.110%

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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.
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