The computing power of the Ravencoin and Ethereum Classic blockchain networks nearly doubled after mining was made obsolete on the Ethereum network that supports ether (ETH), which is the second-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capital.
On Thursday, Ethereum moved to a system without the need for miners.
The Ethereum network changed from a proof of work (PoW), consensus algorithm, to a proof-of stake (PoS) earlier Thursday. The move, the Merge was planned many years in advance, but was delayed by many factors.
According to mining pool 2Miners.com, Ergo increased more than twice, from 22.42 Terahash/second on Thursday to nearly 70 TH/s around 2 p.m. UT.
Ravencoin is a hot mining option for people with crypto miners
The Merge ended the need for miners to maintain the network with thousands of computers. It is likely that miners who have invested in hardware to mine Ethereum are looking for alternative uses. PoW tokens such as Ravencoin’s RVN and Ethereum Classic’s ETC are some of the options.
After the DAO attack in 2016, Ethereum Classic was created. This triggered a hard network split that divided the Ethereum blockchain into two. While the original Ethereum Classic chain was still in existence, the new one was named Ethereum.
The hashrate for Ethereum Classic, which continues to use proof-of work, increased from 70.5 Terahash/second on Thursday before the Merge was completed to 158.3 Th/s at 1 PM on the same day, according to CoinWarz data. The hashrate on Ravencoin grew from 8.9 Th/s up to 15.9 T/s during the same period.
Beam has nearly tripled in just 24 hours. Other PoW tokens such as monero, litecoin and Zcash don’t show any trends during the Merge or afterwards.
