EthereumPoW (ETHW) is a proof-of-work fork of Ethereum created after The Merge in 2022. It lets miners continue using GPUs, but its value, security, and adoption are rapidly declining.
ETHW: What Is EthereumPoW and Why It Still Matters
When Ethereum switched from mining to staking in 2022, most of the community moved on. But not everyone. ETHW, the original Ethereum blockchain that kept proof-of-work mining alive after the Merge. Also known as EthereumPoW, it’s the chain that refused to stop mining—keeping the old rules, the old hardware, and the old miners running. While Ethereum became more energy-efficient, ETHW stayed true to its roots. It’s not Ethereum anymore—but it’s still Ethereum, in a way that matters to a quiet but stubborn group of users and miners.
ETHW isn’t just a technical accident. It’s a deliberate choice by miners who believed in proof-of-work as a security model. Proof-of-work Ethereum, the system that used GPUs and ASICs to validate transactions before the Merge still powers ETHW. That means miners with old rigs, data centers with cheap electricity, and communities in places like Iran and Kazakhstan still rely on it. It’s not glamorous. It doesn’t have DeFi apps or NFTs with big prices. But it runs. And it pays out block rewards—just like Bitcoin does. Ethereum fork, a split from the main Ethereum chain that preserved the pre-Merge blockchain—ETHW is one of the few that survived long-term.
People ask: Why not just use Ethereum? Because some don’t trust staking. They worry about centralization. They don’t want their security to depend on a few big staking pools. ETHW offers an alternative. It’s not perfect—liquidity is thin, exchanges list it reluctantly, and the price is volatile. But it’s real. It’s mined. It’s spent. And it’s still being built on, slowly. You’ll find posts here about how miners keep it alive, how exchanges handle it, and why some traders still see value in it—even when the rest of the market looks away.
Below, you’ll find real stories from people who still mine ETHW, guides on how to trade it safely, and breakdowns of why it hasn’t disappeared despite the odds. This isn’t about hype. It’s about persistence. And if you’ve ever wondered what happens to a blockchain after the world moves on—this is where you start.