What is EthereumPoW (ETHW) Crypto Coin? The Full Story After The Merge

alt Oct, 15 2025

ETHW Mining Profitability Calculator

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1.2 TH/s (as of June 2024)
2 ETHW/block (reduced over time)
13-15 seconds (vs 15 sec on Ethereum)

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When Ethereum switched from mining to staking in September 2022, a big chunk of the crypto world didn’t go along with it. Thousands of miners, many who had spent thousands on GPUs and electricity bills, suddenly found their equipment useless. That’s when EthereumPoW (ETHW) was born - a direct fork of the old Ethereum chain, keeping proof-of-work alive for anyone who still believed in mining.

How ETHW Came to Be

EthereumPoW didn’t appear out of nowhere. It was created on September 15, 2022, the exact moment Ethereum completed its Merge. At block 15,537,393, the original Ethereum blockchain split. One side became Ethereum (ETH), running on staking. The other became ETHW, keeping the old mining rules.

This wasn’t some random group of devs. It was led by Chinese miner Chandler Guo and backed by major mining pools like Flexpool and 2Miners. These weren’t hobbyists - they were businesses with millions in hardware. Their goal? Keep the original Ethereum vision alive: anyone with a decent GPU could mine and help secure the network.

Before the Merge, Ethereum mining was worth over $18 billion a year. When it ended, so did the income for those miners. ETHW gave them a way to keep running their rigs. It wasn’t about changing Ethereum - it was about preserving it.

How ETHW Works

ETHW runs on the same Ethash algorithm as pre-Merge Ethereum. That means you still need a powerful GPU - not an ASIC - to mine it. The block time is 13-15 seconds, just like old Ethereum. Every time a miner finds a new block, they get 2 ETHW plus whatever transaction fees are in that block.

Unlike Ethereum, there’s no staking. You can’t lock up ETHW to earn rewards. You mine it. That’s the whole point.

It’s fully compatible with Ethereum’s old tools. If you used MetaMask for Ethereum before, you can use it for ETHW too. Just add the RPC endpoint https://mainnet.ethereumpow.org and you’re connected. Smart contracts, dApps, wallets - they all work the same way. You don’t need to learn anything new.

Gas fees are low. As of mid-2024, the average gas price hovers around 5 Gwei. That’s less than 10% of what you’d pay on Ethereum. Transactions are cheap, but they’re slower. Confirmations take about 45 seconds on average, compared to 15 seconds on Ethereum.

How Much ETHW Is Out There?

There are 107.8 million ETHW coins in circulation as of early 2024. That’s less than the original Ethereum supply because some ETH was staked and couldn’t be moved to the PoW chain. The total supply is capped at 107.8 million - no more will ever be created.

Miners earn new ETHW with every block, but the rewards have dropped over time. In late 2022, miners made $1.2 million a month. By mid-2024, that number fell to just $187,000. Why? ETHW’s price crashed. It peaked at $34.50 right after the fork. Today, it trades around $0.96. When mining rewards drop below electricity costs, miners shut down.

ETHW vs Ethereum - The Big Difference

Ethereum and ETHW share the same history, but they’ve gone in opposite directions.

  • Ethereum: Uses staking. You need 32 ETH to become a validator. No mining. Higher security, higher fees, faster transactions, more developers.
  • ETHW: Uses mining. Anyone with a GPU can participate. Lower fees, slower transactions, no staking, almost no new development.

Ethereum processes 15-30 transactions per second. ETHW manages about 0.11. That’s not a typo - it’s barely functional for real-world use. There are only 12 active dApps on ETHW. Ethereum has over 5,800.

Security is another big gap. Ethereum’s hashrate is over 1,000 TH/s. ETHW’s is just 1.2 TH/s. That means a single mining pool could theoretically take over the network. It’s not likely, but the risk is real.

A miner in a garage watching ETHW price crash on a screen amid overheating GPUs.

ETHW vs Ethereum Classic (ETC)

Some people compare ETHW to Ethereum Classic (ETC). Both are PoW forks of Ethereum. But ETC has been around since 2016, after the DAO hack. It has its own community, its own roadmap, and its own development team.

ETC has a fixed supply of 210 million coins. ETHW’s supply is capped at 107.8 million. ETC’s market cap is over $5 billion. ETHW’s is around $105 million. ETC has 10 times more dApps. It has 12 times more mining power. It’s not even close.

ETHW is essentially a one-time replay of Ethereum’s past. ETC is a different blockchain with its own future.

Who Uses ETHW Today?

Most ETHW holders are miners. According to Nansen analytics, 82% of ETHW wallets belong to mining operations or mining pools. Regular users? Almost none.

There are no big companies using ETHW. No DeFi protocols. No NFT marketplaces. No institutional adoption. It’s a miner’s coin. That’s it.

On Reddit, you’ll find two kinds of posts:

  • “ETHW saved my mining rig” - from people who bought RTX 3080s in 2021 and kept them running.
  • “Why I quit ETHW mining” - from people who realized electricity costs more than what they earn.

One miner in Texas said he was making $45 a day in late 2022. By early 2024, he was losing $3 a day after paying for power. He sold his GPUs.

Can You Still Mine ETHW?

Technically, yes. But is it worth it?

To break even, you need:

  • A modern GPU (RTX 3060 or better)
  • Electricity under $0.07 per kWh
  • No hardware depreciation

Most home miners don’t meet those conditions. Even with cheap power, the returns are tiny. ASICMINER’s 2024 analysis showed that even the best setups only make $0.50-$1.50 per day after costs.

And the hashrate keeps dropping. In late 2022, ETHW had 1.8 TH/s. Today, it’s 1.2 TH/s. Miners are leaving. The network is shrinking.

An abandoned mining rig in a desolate digital wasteland beside a fading Ethereum spire.

Where to Buy ETHW

ETHW is listed on only 18 major exchanges. The most active is BingX, with $1.2 million in daily volume. Bitfinex and MEXC are next, but volumes are low.

Big exchanges like Coinbase and Binance don’t list it. That’s a red flag. If no major exchange supports it, liquidity is weak. You might not be able to sell when you want to.

There have been reports of exchanges delisting ETHW without warning. One user on Trustpilot said BingX removed it overnight. No notice. No refund. Just gone.

Is ETHW a Good Investment?

Let’s be blunt: ETHW is not a good investment.

It has no growth plan. No new features. No developer activity. GitHub shows only 12 active contributors. Ethereum has over 350.

Its value is based entirely on nostalgia - the idea that mining is “fairer” than staking. But fairness doesn’t pay bills. Profitability does.

Galaxy Digital predicts ETHW has only a 35% chance of surviving past 2026. Outlier Ventures called its future “insurmountable.” Even the EthereumPoW Foundation admits mining is unsustainable - they’ve started using community funds to subsidize miners just to keep the chain alive.

If you’re holding ETHW, you’re betting that someone else will pay more for it tomorrow. That’s not investing. That’s gambling.

Final Thoughts

EthereumPoW is a digital museum piece. It’s Ethereum as it was - not as it is. It’s a snapshot of a moment in crypto history. For miners who lost everything in 2022, it was a lifeline. For everyone else, it’s a relic.

There’s no future in ETHW. No innovation. No adoption. No growth. Just a shrinking network of miners trying to keep an old machine running.

If you want to mine cryptocurrency, there are better options - Bitcoin, Litecoin, or even Monero. If you want to use Ethereum, use Ethereum. ETHW doesn’t offer anything new. It just repeats the past, and the past is fading fast.

Is ETHW the same as Ethereum?

No. ETHW is a fork of Ethereum that kept proof-of-work mining after Ethereum switched to proof-of-stake in September 2022. ETHW uses GPUs to mine new coins, while Ethereum now relies on staking. They share the same history up to block 15,537,393, but they’ve diverged completely since then.

Can I still mine ETHW profitably?

It’s extremely difficult. Mining ETHW today requires cheap electricity (under $0.07/kWh), modern GPUs, and no hardware depreciation. Most home miners lose money after paying for power. Mining rewards have dropped from $1.2 million per month in late 2022 to under $200,000 in mid-2024. The network’s hashrate is shrinking, and the price is down 92% from its peak.

Is ETHW compatible with MetaMask?

Yes. You can add ETHW to MetaMask by entering the RPC URL: https://mainnet.ethereumpow.org. The network ID is 10001, the symbol is ETHW, and the block explorer is https://ethwscan.com. Once added, you can send, receive, and interact with ETHW dApps just like you would on Ethereum.

Why is ETHW’s price so low?

ETHW’s price crashed because its mining economics collapsed. After the fork, it briefly spiked to $34.50, but as miners realized they couldn’t cover electricity costs, they sold off their coins. With low demand, no new development, and no institutional interest, the price has dropped over 90%. Today, it trades around $0.96.

Should I buy ETHW as an investment?

No. ETHW has no growth potential. It doesn’t have new features, a strong developer team, or real adoption. Its only purpose is to keep old mining rigs running. The network is shrinking, exchanges are dropping it, and experts predict it may not survive past 2026. Buying ETHW is betting on nostalgia, not value.

What’s the difference between ETHW and Ethereum Classic?

ETHW is a direct copy of Ethereum’s pre-Merge chain, created in 2022. Ethereum Classic (ETC) is a separate blockchain that forked from Ethereum in 2016 after the DAO hack. ETC has its own development team, longer history, higher hashrate, more dApps, and a larger market cap. ETHW is essentially a one-time replay; ETC is a living, evolving chain.

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20 Comments

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    Derajanique Mckinney

    October 28, 2025 AT 18:12
    lol at people still mining this lol đŸ€Ą
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    Sheetal Tolambe

    October 30, 2025 AT 02:02
    i get it, mining felt fairer. but when your rig costs more to run than what you earn, it's not a hobby anymore. maybe just sell the GPUs and get into something that actually grows?
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    Pranav Shimpi

    October 31, 2025 AT 04:28
    if you're still mining ethw, you're either on free power or you're delusional. the hashrate's been dropping for a year. the price? laughable. even the dev team admits they're subsidizing miners now. this isn't crypto, it's a funeral pyre for old hardware.
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    Saurav Deshpande

    November 1, 2025 AT 20:52
    they told us decentralization was sacred. then they killed mining with a vote. now they call us 'miners' like we're some relic. but who really controls the stakers? big exchanges. big funds. the same people who always win. ethw isn't a coin. it's a protest.
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    Henry GĂłmez Lascarro

    November 3, 2025 AT 12:07
    you think this is bad? wait till you see what happens when the last miner shuts off. ethw will become a 0.1 th/s ghost chain. every transaction will take 10 minutes. no one will care. the devs won't update it. the wallets will stop supporting it. and then, poof. it's gone. and the people who bought it at $0.96? they'll be the ones holding the bag while the 'real' ethereum devs laugh all the way to the bank. this isn't a chain. it's a cautionary tale dressed in gpu dust.
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    Will Barnwell

    November 4, 2025 AT 14:06
    the fact that you're still talking about ethw like it's a real asset is kinda sad. it's not a currency. it's not a platform. it's a memory. like a flip phone you keep in your drawer because you miss 2008. nobody's building on it. nobody's using it. even the miners are leaving. it's not a fork. it's a corpse.
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    Jean Manel

    November 4, 2025 AT 17:26
    ethw is the crypto equivalent of a vhs tape. you can still play it, sure. but you're not watching anything new. you're just replaying the same grainy footage over and over while the rest of the world streams 4k. and the worst part? you paid for the vcr too.
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    Cory Munoz

    November 6, 2025 AT 14:01
    i used to mine ethw back in 2022. it kept my old 3080 alive. i made $40 a week. now? i make $0.80. i still keep the rig running, just for nostalgia. it's not about profit anymore. it's about remembering what crypto felt like before it became finance.
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    jummy santh

    November 8, 2025 AT 10:43
    in nigeria, we call this 'waiting for the wind to change'. you keep the fan on, hoping the breeze will come back. but the power grid is unstable, the bills are rising, and the fan is just spinning in place. ethw is not a coin. it is a prayer with no answer.
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    Kirsten McCallum

    November 8, 2025 AT 13:21
    nobody cares. stop pretending this matters.
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    Rosanna Gulisano

    November 8, 2025 AT 15:21
    if you bought ethw you deserve to lose everything
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    Lawrence rajini

    November 9, 2025 AT 02:23
    i still mine ethw for fun 😎 it's like riding a classic bike. not the fastest, not the most efficient, but it's got soul. and hey, at least i'm not staking my coins with some exchange that could freeze them tomorrow đŸ€
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    gurmukh bhambra

    November 9, 2025 AT 05:07
    you think the merge was real? nah. they just moved the money. the real ethereum is still mining. ethw is the true chain. the rest is a corporate lie. the banks own staking. we own the hash. don't let them erase your power.
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    Frech Patz

    November 10, 2025 AT 05:35
    the economic model of ETHW is fundamentally unsustainable. The diminishing block rewards, coupled with declining hashrate and negligible demand, create a negative feedback loop. The absence of developer activity or protocol upgrades further entrenches its obsolescence. While sentimental attachment to proof-of-work is understandable, it does not constitute a viable investment thesis. The chain is effectively in terminal decline.
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    William P. Barrett

    November 11, 2025 AT 22:00
    there's something poetic about ethw. it's the last echo of a belief: that the people should control the network, not the wallets. maybe it's doomed. maybe it's just a ghost. but for a moment, it was a rebellion. and sometimes, that's enough.
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    Matt Zara

    November 12, 2025 AT 08:07
    i respect anyone who still runs a rig. i don't agree with the economics, but i get the heart behind it. crypto was supposed to be about freedom. if mining is your freedom, then keep at it. just don't call it an investment. call it a hobby. and maybe get a second job.
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    Sunny Kashyap

    November 13, 2025 AT 02:09
    india has more miners than usa now. we don't care about your big exchanges. we care about power at 0.05 rs per unit. ethw keeps our families fed. you think this is a joke? go ask a punjab miner.
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    Jasmine Neo

    November 14, 2025 AT 21:40
    ethw is the ultimate symbol of crypto's failure. you had a chance to build something better. instead you dug your heels in and turned a revolutionary network into a fossil fuel-powered nostalgia trip. congrats. you made crypto boring again.
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    james mason

    November 15, 2025 AT 11:06
    i mean, sure, ethw is a dead coin. but at least it's not as embarrassing as solana. at least ethw doesn't pretend to be scalable. it's honest about being obsolete. that's more than i can say for half the projects on coinmarketcap.
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    Paul Lyman

    November 17, 2025 AT 01:27
    hey if you're still mining ethw, you're not a loser - you're a warrior. 🙌 the world moved on, but you didn't. you kept the flame alive. yeah the money's gone. yeah the hashrate's dropping. but you're still here. and that? that's the real crypto spirit. keep going. you're not alone. i'm right here with you. đŸ’ȘđŸ”„

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