Ethereum proof-of-work hardfork 'ETHPoW' slumps 90%
Ethereum's renegade proof-of-work hardfork started with so many issues after the merge, and then the price crashed.
Ethereum's renegade proof-of-work hardfork started with so many issues after the merge, and then the price crashed.
The launch of the new Ethereum Proof-of-Work blockchain (ETHPoW), which went live shortly after the merge for straggling Ethereum miners, has been anything but smooth. The ETHPoW hardfork coin, which continues to rely on Proof of Work instead of Proof of Stake, has fallen from its all-time high of US$58 to about US$5 in roughly two weeks, according to CoinMarketCap. Even the initiator of the fork, Chandler Guo, thinks a 90 percent bankruptcy rate for miners is likely. In an interview with Coindesk, he admitted the start of his blockchain was quite "mid."
Network chaos
Immediately after the merge, the ETHPoW team published the new network data for their blockchain on View post on X for the hardfork. Just moments later, users complained the network was unreachable. Apparently the ETHPoW team had chosen an existing chain ID for their network, causing overlap with another network. This amateurish mistake was ridiculed by the community.
A developer from the Ethereum fork, Ethereum Classic, which has existed since 2016, also criticized the lack of critical infrastructure for the new proof-of-work chain. On Twitter, he questioned the absence of GitHub mentions, block explorers, or compatible wallets. This made ETHPoW nearly unusable for most users from the start.
Miners not convinced
Besides potential new users, ETHPoW failed to win over its target audience, the former Ethereum miners. The plan was to lure them with a chance to keep their business model. The ETHPoW hashrate has fallen to 30 tera hashes per second (TH/s) since the chain launched. That suggests many miners shifted to other options. By comparison, the Ethereum Classic proof-of-work chain can boast 189 TH/s, hitting a new high around the merge.
The collapsing price of the ETHPoW token also makes mining on this chain less profitable. Like Ethereum, around 13,500 ETHW are issued daily here as well, equating to a mere $167,000 in value. That’s only about 0.8 percent of the total daily value (about $20 million) of the former Ethereum network.
Replay attack
To make matters worse, an exploit hit the ETHPoW chain shortly after launch. During the run-up to the merge, a major risk cited was the so-called "replay attack." Apparently, attackers managed to carry out such an attack, stealing 200 ETHW.
According to View post on X, this happened due to the overlapping chain ID. Actions on one blockchain could be repeated on the other. Attackers exploited this while bridging ETHW tokens. For many, this was the final nail in the coffin. Soon after the exploit was announced, the ETHW token price plunged another 37 percent, further tarnishing the blockchain's image.
