Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) miners that have migrated to the Ethereum Classic (CRYPTO: ETC) chain are making a small fraction of the daily revenue they used to make on ETH pre-Merge, according to blockchain analytics firm CoinMetrics.
What Happened: On Sept. 15, Ethereum switched to a fully Proof-of-Stake network in an event called the Merge.
See also: WHY IS THE ETHEREUM MERGE IMPORTANT?
The network’s transition away from Proof-of-Work brought about an official end to mining ETH, forcing miners to shift to other networks. So far, the hashrate spike in Ethereum Classic, makes it clear that it has been the blockchain of choice for most miners looking to take their operations to a new chain.
However, analysis of post-Merge on-chain data from CoinMetrics paints a grim picture for the future of ETH miners looking for alternative sources of revenue.
“Some miners appear to be doing what they can by shifting to Ethereum Classic,” noted CoinMetrics in a special Merge update.
“But miners unfortunately won’t find much revenue to go around on ETC these days, with ETC miners making around 1/40th of the daily revenue that was previously made on ETH pre-Merge,” stated the report.
Why It's Important: As things stand, it is unclear how many former ETH miners will remain profitable in a post PoW-ETH era.
ETH miners earned $35 billion in revenue over the last seven years. They were responsible for producing 50 million of the 120 million ETH in circulation today.
Price Action: At the time of writing, ETH was trading at $1,470, down 7% in the last day as per data from Benzinga Pro. ETC was trading at $34, down 5.6% over the same period.
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