The upcoming Ethereum (ETH) merge has taken center stage in the crypto space. What was just a theory a couple of years ago, has finally turned into reality. As all eyes are glued to the developments surrounding the transition to a PoS (proof of stake) system, many are concerned about the ETH miners. Once the transition is complete, there will be no need for miners to validate transactions.
Speaking with CoinTelegraph, Andy Long, CEO of mining company White Rock, is of the opinion that the Ethereum merge will force PoW miners to move to other blockchains. He believes this will “swamp” other coins. Moreover, he says it will increase mining difficulty and decrease profitability.
Long stated,
“As GPU miners point their hardware at other chains their difficulty will increase causing lower returns and splitting the reward amongst more miners.”
Furthermore, Long believes that many miners will even quit the industry, selling their gear. Nonetheless, Long is interested to see how market forces play out.
Will Ethereum miners get in the way of other projects?
Well, although Long does have a point, there is also the aspect of security that he does not address. Now, the most likely candidate for the current miners to move into is Ethereum Classic (ETC). The additional miners will undoubtedly lead to a spike in mining difficulty, but it will also increase the hash rate, thereby increasing the security of the project. ETC has been subject to 51% attacks in the past. With the additional miners, this risk can be controlled. The same argument applies to other projects as well.
Furthermore, quitting the mining industry does not seem like a profitable maneuver. If Ethereum miners were to sell their gear, they would have to do so at discounted prices given the rise in availability of second-hand GPUs (graphics processing unit). The GPU market took a hit in 2022 when many miners quit the industry. Mining became unprofitable as crypto prices declined, and energy costs soared.
Nonetheless, only time will tell how the miners behave. The merge is scheduled to take place between September 13th-15th, as revealed by the Ethereum team.
Anticipation for the merge has also pushed Ethereum’s price in a positive direction. At press time ETH was trading at $1,660.46, up by 6.1% in the last 24 hours. The project is also up by 6.8% in the last seven days.