About EthereumPoW

EthereumPoW (ETHW) is a new cryptocurrency that emerged from a hard fork of the Ethereum blockchain in September 2022. The fork occurred due to disagreements within the Ethereum community over proposed upgrades that would shift the network to a proof-of-stake consensus model. ETHW preserves the original proof-of-work consensus mechanism of Ethereum.

History of the Ethereum Hard Fork

Ethereum has planned a transition to proof-of-stake consensus for several years, starting with the ‘Beacon Chain’ in 2020. However, some miners and developers opposed the shift due to concerns over centralization and ideology. This came to a head with the Merge upgrade in September 2022, which merged the Beacon Chain with the main Ethereum blockchain.

In response, dissenting miners continued mining on the old proof-of-work chain, which forked into a new blockchain called EthereumPoW. This allows parallel Ethereum ecosystems to exist – the proof-of-stake Ethereum, and the proof-of-work ETHW.

Key Differences Between ETH and ETHW

While ETHW is based on Ethereum’s original codebase, there are some key differences between the two networks:

• Consensus: ETH uses the method of proof-of-stake while ETHW uses proof-of-work through mining. This reflects their different philosophies.
• Tokenomics: ETHW copies the original Ethereum account balances at the time of the fork. However, token supplies diverge as each network mints new coins.
• Roadmap: ETH focuses on scalability via sharding and layer-2 solutions. ETHW aims to preserve maximal on-chain activity and improve through Optimistic Rollups.
• Support: Most Ethereum developers moved to the new chain. ETHW has limited developer resources so far.
• Valuation: ETH is worth around $1500 while ETHW is currently trading under $10. The latter has uncertain long-term value.

ETHW Token Distribution

The total supply of ETHW is identical to ETH at the time of the fork – around 120 million coins. However, the distribution and circulation differ significantly:

• ETH coins were copied 1:1 to ETHW wallets at the fork. However, few people claimed their coins immediately.
• Major exchanges like Coinbase and Binance did not support the forked token at launch.
• This has led to fragmented liquidity and questions about who holds supply. Miners are thought to control a significant portion.
• Selective emission have been used to bootstrap liquidity and to attract users. But the tokenomics policy remains unclear.

ETHW Mining

As a proof-of-work chain, ETHW relies on mining to validate transactions and mint new coins. In the early days, profitability spiked due to low difficulty and high gas prices.

However, mining economics have normalized as the hash rate increased. Some key trends:

• GPU miners pivoted from ETH to ETHW, retaining their equipment investment.
• ASICs are estimated to now control over 50% of hashrate, reducing decentralization.
• With fall in price, mining profitability dropped over 85% from peak. Break-even electricity rates are now under $0.04 kWh.
• Mempool congestion and high fees have subsided as hash rate stabilized.

ETHW Dapps and Smart Contracts

Developer activity on ETHW is still nascent compared to Ethereum. A few DeFi and NFT projects have launched, but adoption is low. Challenges include:

• Few assets, users or liquidity on ETHW so far, limiting usefulness.
• Mainstream dapps like Uniswap or Chainlink have not deployed on the base of ETHW.
• Several ETH whales control large token supply, risking centralization and manipulation.
• Slow speed of core protocol development due to lack of resources.

However, the promise of uncapped on-chain activity continues to attract some projects seeking to avoid Ethereum’s constraints.

Future Outlook for ETHW

The long-term success of ETHW remains uncertain. Much depends on whether it can attract developer talent, build user traction and carve out a niche.

Possibilities include:

• Becoming a lower-fee alternative to Ethereum for applications that require maximal on-chain usage.
• Operating as a sister network with interoperability bridges to Ethereum.
• Failing to achieve product-market fit and slowly fading away over the long-run.
• Getting acquired by a larger ecosystem if network effects do not accrue organically.

Regardless of outcome, ETHW offers an intriguing experiment in divergent blockchain evolution and philosophy.

Conclusion

EthereumPoW presents an alternative vision of the original Ethereum chain by preserving proof-of-work consensus. Its ideology has resonated with some users, but growth and traction remain uncertain. Much depends on how the protocol, applications and incentives evolve in this new forked but familiar environment. While technically live, ETHW remains a blockchain in its infancy.