Top cryptocurrency news: How Will the ETH Merge Affect Crypto Miners?

After the Ethereum Merge, ETH miners can lose their jobs.

In contrast, in 2022, Ethereum (ETH) miners reported making more money than Bitcoin (BTC) miners. The disastrous impacts of the "Crypto winter" that have been observed in the industry and the rising cost of power have not deterred miners of either asset.

This year, ETH miners made $1 billion more than BTC miners did.

ETH mining has brought in $11 billion this year, according to data from Arcane Research, somewhat more than the $10 billion BTC miners made during the same time period. This trend was also seen last year, when BTC mining brought in $1 billion less than the $18 billion that ETH miners brought in.

Before this, BTC mining had been steadily bringing in more money than ETH mining. The turn of events seen over the past 18 months can be ascribed to increasing interest in ETH as the asset develops popularity due to the ecosystem's adaptability.

The much-anticipated Ethereum Merge, which would combine the Ethereum Mainnet and the Beacon Chain and cause the Ethereum network to switch to PoS, poses a threat to the employment of ETH miners who currently earn billions of dollars a year.

The truth about the Ethereum Merge's problem for ETH miners

After the Ethereum Merge, mining ETH will no longer be necessary; instead, validators that validate transactions on the network will be paid for their labour, as is the case with proof-of-stake blockchains.

Although ETH miners may want to switch to BTC mining, it would not be practical because BTC mining is done with ASIC miners whereas ETH mining is done with GPUs. The subject of compatibility comes up.

After The Merge, ETH miners would only be able to choose between receiving a little portion of their previous earnings or selling their GPUs. The mining platform AntPool disclosed that it had invested $10 million in ETC as The Merge date approaches since the ETH offshoot asset would continue to be mineable after The Merge.

Chandler Guo, a Chinese miner, has disclosed plans to fork the Ethereum blockchain and create "ETHPoW," which would preserve the Proof-of-Work algorithm after the Merge, in order to maintain mining. Investor interest in the forked chain may be detected by investors, according to BitMex analysts.