On December 19, it was announced that the development team behind the Ethereum proof-of-work (PoW) hard fork has decided to disband. This move aims to allow the Ethereum PoW blockchain to achieve full autonomy and operate as a "godless public chain" with continued reliance on PoW for consensus. As a result of this decision, the governance of the Ethereum PoW blockchain will be decentralized.
Concurrently, the management of existing Ethereum PoW servers is being transferred to OneDAO, a decentralized protocol on the Harmony network. This transition is intended for maintenance purposes until a long-term ecological partner can be found. Core developer Jadal Page noted that they have confirmed the technical and operational feasibility of Ethereum PoW (ETHW) running independently without core team support.
The EthereumPoW blockchain originally forked from the Ethereum mainnet just before the Ethereum merge upgrade in September 2022. This major upgrade transitioned the network from PoW to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, significantly reducing the mainnet's energy consumption by 99%. The Ethereum PoW fork was created by developers and miners dissatisfied with the perceived centralization of the new Ethereum PoS system and the loss of mining income.
However, the Ethereum PoW token (ETHW) faced challenges, including the withdrawal of support from Grayscale Investments, a major exchange-traded fund operator, on September 20. Grayscale cited a lack of meaningful liquidity for ETHW and the incompatibility of their product custodian with the token as reasons for discontinuing support. Consequently, they were unable to buy and sell ETHW tokens on behalf of their clients. Initially launched at a high of $100 in August 2022, the ETHW token has since dropped to $2.59, with its total market capitalization now standing at $279 million.
