The network’s hash rate hits a new record high after experiencing a significant drop after May 2021. The network continues to receive enough hashing power, as the progression to Ethereum 2.0 slowly pushes miners out the door. out the door
End of migration for Ethereum miners
According to data from The Block, Ethereum’s 7-day average hashrate set a new record on August 26, 2021, surpassing the 600 Terahashes per second (TH/s) mark, a level it had been approaching in May 2021. This hashrate subsequently dropped to 465 TH/s on July 6, 2021.
This sharp drop was largely due to the hunt for miners in China who then had to stop mining and move to other countries. Bitcoin’s hash rate (BTC) had also been a victim of this crackdown, but the hashrate has been on the rise again recently, a rebound signaling the end of the miner migration.
Ethereum’s record-breaking hashrate in an offbeat environment
Ethereum’s hashrate hits a new high as activity on the blockchain increases with the continued development of decentralized finance, but also with NFT fever in the summer of 2021. To name just a few cases illustrating this “craze” around NFTs, the Art Blocks platform’s Fidenza #313 recently sold for 1,000 ETH, or about $3.3 million at the time of sale. And these NFTs sold or valued at 7 figures or more are not rare. Feisty Doge, the NFT containing Dogecoin’s (DOGE) Shiba Inu photo, is estimated to be worth $110 million thanks to a split strategy.
This new record reached by the Ethereum hashrate is all the more interesting, as it comes only a few weeks after the London update that implemented the burn (destruction) of a part of the fees on the network, and which was theoretically supposed to impact negatively on the miners’ income. Miners were not happy with the arrival of this new mechanism. In view of the current hashrate, miners have not left the network, although the next upgrades will see a switch from proof of work to proof of participation, an advance that will signal the end of mining on Ethereum.
Will miners increase their hashing power more and more as the date of this switch to proof of participation approaches? They would be doing their utmost to earn more Ether than in recent years, a motivation that would be explained by the potential of Ether, which would even present a better trading configuration than Bitcoin according to a former Goldman Sachs executive.