Buying Ethereum PoW (ETHW) is easy!

What it is and how it came about

Before we get to Ethereum Pow (ETHW) some conceptual clarification is in order. When the original Ethereum network was created, it was set in motion on the basis of a consensus mechanism called Proof-of-Work (PoW). This same mechanism, however, was deactivated in 2022 with the switch to Proof of Stake. This change was not appreciated by several miners who subsequently decided to create an Ethereum Hard Fork, thus leading to the birth of ETHW. 

The development of Ethereum PoW was spearheaded by Chandler Guo, a well-known Ethereum miner, who presented the idea on Twitter on 27 July 2022. The project, initially also supported by Justin Sun, gathered support from other miners and defined a roadmap: the ETHW mainnet would be created a few hours after the ETH Merge (which took place on 15 September 2022) and activated after the creation of 2048 ‘empty’ blocks. The initial computing power (hash rate) of ETHW was around 9% of the total ETH pre-merge: many miners preferred to switch off their hardware or devote it to other purposes. Later on, given the low value of the Ethereum Proof-of-Work coin, other miners abandoned the ETHW network, decreasing the total hash rate even further. 

Ethereum PoW, therefore, is nothing more than a copy of Ethereum’s pre-Merge state. The main blockchain split into two ‘branches’, which became independent. The Hard Fork ETHW replicated the functions of the original blockchain, reproducing existing smart contracts. Furthermore, with the aim of mirroring wallet balances, the new project distributed the ETHW crypto to ETH holders, in a 1:1 airdrop. Could buying Ethereum Pow be the right choice for your wallet?