We’re taking a quick break from the world of Bitcoin mining to take a look at another mining network’s hashrate: Ethereum.

The second largest Proof-of-Work network is seeing hashrate flee for an almost forgotten rival chain, Ethereum Classic, as the ever promised Proof-of-Stake transition (AKA The Merge) grinds closer to reality. The Merge is tenatively planned for late September.

The Merge will swap mining for validating, wherein validators are tasked with the process of finding new blocks instead of miners. Slashable coin holdings “staked” to the network secure the network in lieu of energy consuming miners.

The transition gives us yet another look into the design consequences inherent to cryptocurrencies, particularly Proof-of-Work. Ethereum miners are free to join and leave the network–including all the tasked responsibilities–with no downside minus foregoing future rewards. Compare that with other money networks which can easily deplatform both users and operators, such as Swift’s boot of Russian finance firms this past spring.

Although a bummer for dedicated GPU-enthusiasts, The Merge highlights some of Proof-of-Work’s handy features, including the ability to swap in-and-out of network participation. 

- Will Foxley