Ethereum Classic up over 150% in July as ETH 2.0 draws closer

Ethereum Classic (ETC) increased in value by over 150% in July, making it one of the best digital assets of the month.

The asset was trading at $36.50 at the time of writing after dropping more than 11% over the past 24 hours.

Interest in the asset reached a fever pitch when Ethereum (ETH) developers revealed a date for the merge, increasing the chances of miners being kicked out of the network.

Amazing ETCs miner earnings/hashes in USD surpassed ETHs (chart @coin metrics) pic.twitter.com/x5RJs7lUrj

Noelle Acheson (@NoelleInMadrid) July 29, 2022

Once the transition to a Proof-of-Stake network is complete, Ethereum will no longer be minable. Validators use existing Her ETH to validate blocks and create new Her ETH after merging to generate staking rewards.

ETC, on the other hand, is a hardforked version of Ethereum after the 2016 DAO hack.

Miners can migrate to Ethereum Classic

Several experts have revealed that miners who left Ethereum could find new homes in Ethereum Classic, as the sister blockchain appears to be compatible with Ethereum mining equipment.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin was the first to share the possibility of miners moving to Ethereum Classic at a recent event in Paris.

Reportedly, buterin Said Developers and users unsure of Merge returning to the Ethereum Classic chain. He said:

It’s a very welcoming community. If you like proof of work, you should go with Ethereum Classic. This is a perfectly fine chain.

Sami Kasab of Messari Said That ETC was the only proof-of-work digital asset that ETH ASIC machines could mine.

According to Kasab:

The Ethereum mining network consists of two types of hardware: ASIC and GPU. The problem with ASIC is that it cannot be used for anything other than ETH mining. It is the only PoW coin that can be mined with ETH ASIC as it is compatible with

Meanwhile, Bitmain’s mining pool, AntPool, has invested $10 million in the ecosystem, showing its support for Ethereum Classic.

Support the ETC ecosystem and incubate quality PoW projects together! https://t.co/AHft6WfGES

Antpool (@AntPoolofficial) July 27, 2022

Miners can revolt

Miners can continue mining on the proof-of-work version of Ethereum after the merge is complete.

A Galois Capital survey revealed that 33% of respondents believed Merge would create two parallel networks on ETH1 (PoW) and ETH2 (POS).

Question 1: What happens during the merge? If option 2 or 3, go to questions 2-5.

Galois Capital (@Galois_Capital) July 27, 2022

There is more talk about this, with Chandler Guo leading discussion on forking Ethereum PoW.

ETH is forkedETHPOS VS ETHPOW https://t.co/ICti7ou4q6

Chandler Guo (@ChandlerGuo) July 27, 2022