F2Pool, Poolin to start Ethereum PoW mining after ETHW mainnet launch

Together, ETHW mining pools already make up more mining capacity in terms of block share than Ethermine, which opted to shut down mining operations.

Despite Ethereum’s historic transition to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, mining pools are increasingly signing up for mining on the upcoming proof-of-work (PoW) version of Ethereum.

EthereumPoW, the community advocating for ETHPoW, or the PoW Ethereum version, has released a list of mining pools that are going to continue mining after the ETHW mainnet launch.

According to EthereumPoW, some major Ethereum mining pools are going to continue mining despite Ethereum’s switch to the eco-friendly PoS consensus mechanism.

At the time of writing, the list of ETHW mining pools composes a total of 19 various mining pools, including F2Pool, Poolin, AntPool, Nanopool, 2miners and EthwMine.

Interestingly, the list includes some Russia-linked pools, including Pool Moscow and BaikalMine, as well as Ukrainian ones, such as UA Pool. EthereumPoW noted that the list is growing as more pools are joining after the mainnet launch.

The mentioned ETHW mining pools apparently make up significant mining capacity. According to data from ETH.BTC.com, F2Pool is the second-largest Ethereum mining pool by blocks after Ethermine, with the year-to-date block share amounting to 15.7%.

Poolin is also a significant contributor, as several Poolin mining pools have a total block share of 8.7%. According to the data, 2miners, Nanopool and AntPool are also notable mining pools, with the annual block share standing at 5%, 3% and 1.5%, respectively.

Together, ETHW mining pools apparently make up more mining capacity in terms of block share than Ethermine, the world’s largest Ethereum mining pool, which mined more than 28% of all Ethereum blocks over the past year.

Unlike F2Pool and Poolin, Ethermine opted to terminate its Ethereum mining pool services due to Ethereum switching on PoS, officially announcing a withdrawal-only mode on Wednesday. Instead, the company has launched a new Ethereum staking service in line with the PoS Ethereum vision of the Ethereum Foundation.

F2Pool did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment. This article will be updated pending new information.

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Ethereum’s PoS transition became a major issue for Ethereum mining firms as the Ethereum Merge was originally designed to eliminate PoW mining.

Related: ETHW Core to push on with Ethereum PoW fork 24 hours after Merge

The Merge is positioned as a major Ethereum upgrade, aiming to make the cryptocurrency greener and more eco-friendly. According to Ethereum researcher Justin Drake, the Ethereum Merge will reduce worldwide electricity consumption by 0.2%.

“The merge will reduce worldwide electricity consumption by 0.2%” – @drakefjustin

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) September 15, 2022

Due to Ethereum switching to PoS, Ethereum mining-related firms have been actively searching for solutions to continue mining. For example, cryptocurrency miner Hive Blockchain has been working to replace the mining of Ether (ETH) with other coins.