We all know that Ethereum is transitioning from a Proof of Work (PoW) to a Proof of Stake (PoS) network next month. This has created some doubts in the community. One of the main questions that investors are asking is related to what will happen with Ethereum miners. This is something that is not clear, but there are some options for GPU miners.
What will happen with Ethereum Miners?
Nowadays, the Ethereum network is protected by a relatively decentralized network of miners located all over the world using GPU mining rigs. These mining rigs have been a great option for those users that wanted to make some money while processing Ethereum transactions. In some cases, investments in Ethereum rigs for retail users could range between $2,500 and $50,000.
Many of these miners were located in countries with economic issues such as Venezuela, therefore, many of these users might face some issues when Ethereum will transition to ETH 2.0. These are going to be the users that will be affected the most after the Merge.
But there are some options for Ethereum miners if they want to continue operating. One of the options that have been discussed by the Ethereum community was for miners to move to Ethereum Classic (ETC). Ethereum Classic is the original Ethereum network that did not gain the majority of the support when the DAO attack took place.
Ethereum Classic continues to work with a Proof of Work algorithm, meaning that miners will be able to move to this blockchain network and continue to earn rewards. It is worth taking into consideration that in the last weeks, Ethereum Classic moved from $14 to $45, an increase of 220%.
During the same period of time, Ethereum moved from $1,050 to $2,000, which represents a price increase of 90%. Therefore, Ethereum Classic has gained some attention in recent months, which allowed the virtual currency to move higher and reach the top 20 crypto markets in recent days.
Another thing that we should take into consideration is the possibility for Ethereum miners to sell their mining rigs, buy ETH and stake these coins. At a price of $2,000 per coin, it would be necessary for mining rig owners to have at least $64,000 in order to do solo staking. That’s certainly not something that most miners will do, considering that they might be running mining rigs that are valued below $10,000 or $20,000.
Solo staking might only be available for those users that hold 32 ETH (at least). Therefore, there might be a possibility for these users to stake their coins using a cryptocurrency exchange or any staking services in the market. However, the rewards might be slightly smaller as some commissions will then have to be paid to those providing these staking solutions.
There might be other cryptocurrencies that could be mined using GPU mining rigs. However, the best option for Ethereum miners is to move towards ETC, the most similar digital currency to ETH and with a developer community that continues to offer new solutions and be active on this network.
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