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 Coin: What It Is, Why It Exists, and What You Need to Know
When Ethereum switched from mining to staking in 2022, a group of miners refused to stop. They kept the old chain alive using the same rules before the Merge, creating ETHW coin, a proof-of-work fork of Ethereum that continues mining after the main network moved to proof-of-stake. Also known as EthereumPoW, it’s the last living version of Ethereum that still relies on GPUs and ASICs to secure its network. Unlike Ethereum, which now runs on validators staking ETH, ETHW depends on miners solving cryptographic puzzles—just like Bitcoin did in its early days.
ETHW didn’t start as a scam. It was a technical fork with real miners behind it. But over time, its value dropped, its community shrank, and its use cases vanished. Today, it’s mostly traded by speculators hoping for a rebound or by people who still believe in proof-of-work as a security model. You won’t find major DeFi apps, NFT marketplaces, or dApps running on ETHW. It doesn’t support smart contracts the way Ethereum does. It’s a chain with no real innovation, just a legacy of old mining hardware still running.
Some of the posts in this collection touch on related topics—like how blockchain forks, copies of a blockchain that split off to pursue different rules or goals often fail after the initial hype, or how proof-of-work, a consensus method that requires computational power to validate transactions consumes massive energy and struggles to scale. ETHW is a living example of both. It’s what happens when a community chooses to preserve an old system instead of moving forward. And while it still has a price tag, its relevance is fading fast.
What you’ll find here are real stories about what happened after Ethereum changed. Posts that explain why ETHW exists, how it’s different from the real Ethereum, and why most serious developers ignore it. You’ll also see how other chains—like Binance Chain or Solana—built real utility, while ETHW just kept mining coins with no clear purpose. Some of these articles warn about scams tied to ETHW, others explain how miners got stuck holding hardware that’s now useless. None of them promise you riches. They just show you what’s real.