As The Merge Gets Closer, Ethereum’s Hashrate Dropped Over 26% Since the Network’s All-Time High 45 Days Ago – Mining Bitcoin News

While a tentative date for The Merge has been pencilled in by developers, and even though it’s quite possible it could be delayed once again, Ethereum’s hashrate has dropped 26.26% during the last 45 days. 18.21% of the hashrate loss took place after June 30, as Ethereum’s global hashrate slipped from 1,190 terahash per second (TH/s) to today’s 973.27 TH/s. While Ethereum’s hashrate decreased, Ethereum Classic’s hashrate spiked 12.07% higher during the last two days, but the added terahash was way less than the hashrate that left Ethereum during the last few weeks.

Ethereum’s Hashrate and Mining Revenue Slides, 217 TH/s Lost Since Ethereum’s All-Time Hashrate High

A few days ago, on July 16, 2022, Bitcoin.com News reported that while the timeline is not final, The Merge could be implemented on September 19, 2022. The software developer Superphiz shared a “planning timeline” last week, that set a provisional date for Ethereum to transition from a proof-of-work (PoW) to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus model.

The developer stressed that the date was not finalized but he also remarked that it was “extremely exciting” to see the transition coming together. The proposed date for The Merge fueled ethereum’s (ETH) value against the U.S. dollar, but it also increased ether gas fees by a dollar or more per transfer, at a time when transaction fees have been low.

Interestingly, ETH’s hashrate has been dropping too, just as The Merge’s ostensible date was pencilled in by ETH developers last week. Overall, Ethereum’s computational power started to slide 44 days ago, after it reached an all-time high (ATH) at 1,320 TH/s or 1.32 petahash per second (PH/s) on June 4, at block height 14,902,285.

Since then, ETH’s global hashrate has been reduced by 26.26%, but the biggest drop during the last six months occurred on June 30. Ethereum’s hashrate dropped 18.21% from 1,190 TH/s to the 973 TH/s range, or under the 1 PH/s range. When Ethereum finally transitions from PoW to PoS, PoW miners will have to dedicate Ethash hashpower elsewhere or stop mining.

It is assumed that a majority of ETH’s PoW miners will simply mine ethereum classic (ETC), as the two networks share the same Ethash algorithm. One could assume that ETC’s recent 12.07% hashrate increase stemmed from ETH miners, however, while ETH lost 217 TH/s, ETC only gained 2.11 TH/s.

It’s arguably easier to assume that 217 TH/s shut off over the lack of profits from