End of an era...

Ethereum Completes "The Merge"

Goodbye ETH Mining

Ethereum has merged to proof of stake.

You can no longer mine ethereum.

I flipped my at-home cryptocurrency mining rig over to ETH yesterday for old times’ sake and just to see what would happen when the merge occurred. I was curious.

At some point in the middle of the night, my mining rig started processing empty blocks. In other words, ethereum was no longer minable and the rig wasn’t doing anything on the newly upgraded ethereum network.

Ethereum is the world’s second largest cryptocurrency by market cap. Until last night, the blockchain leveraged miners as a way to validate and process transactions.

vitalik.eth @VitalikButerin

And we finalized! Happy merge all. This is a big moment for the Ethereum ecosystem. Everyone who helped make the merge happen should feel very proud today.

Moving forward, ethereum holders have the power on the network and it’s the larger holders who have more say, cryptocurrency exchanges and other centralized parties included.

This is concerning… more on why later.

End of an Era

The merge marks the end of era.

The merge signifies the end of what was a curious and fun time for people like myself when it came to experimenting with things beyond bitcoin.

First, I bought some ether.

Then, I built a mining rig.

I ordered various computer parts and graphics cards over time and assembled them to create what was (and still is) a modest cryptocurrency mining rig.

I did all this during COVID.

We were all at home more and I wanted a more tangible way to get involved with crypto besides just investing in it. The answer hit me—mining. Bitcoin mining was out of my price range but ethereum mining was feasible. I started small and built my mining rig out as time went on. It was a COVID hobby that turned into an irreplaceable learning experience.

I mined ETH and learned more about other types of crypto mining. I compared bitcoin mining with altcoin mining and learned about the differences between proof of work (mining) and proof of stake (locking up coins as collateral). I found other at-home miners online and tapped into a new community that took me down endless rabbit holes.

All the while, ethereum talked about “the merge” and how they would bring an end to ethereum mining. The merge was delayed several times and we wondered if it would ever really happen. Well… it finally did.

What’s Next?

Miners are looking for new homes.

Ethereum is no longer minable.

That means that there are a ton of now former ethereum miners globally who are looking to use their computer hardware to mine other cryptocurrencies.

Two immediate options: