Last week, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum underwent ‘The Merge’, an event that marked its transition to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm from a proof-of-work (PoW) one.
This transition means that people will no longer have to engage in mining activities for Ethereum and this has resulted in complaints from miners in Vietnam.
According to local media reports, mining enthusiasts and entrepreneurs in the country have shared their grievances about the loss of business after the transition.
Heavy losses for miners
The crypto miners in Vietnam have had to deal with heavy losses because they had to shut down their mining rigs since Ethereum has now made the transition to a more energy-efficient framework.
The Merge upgrade was completed last Thursday, after which Ethereum switched to the ‘proof-of-stake’ (PoS) protocol.
This is quite effective in reducing the amount of energy consumed for the purpose of validating transactions on the Ethereum network.
As Ethereum has now adopted a new consensus mechanism, it means that miners engaged in Ethereum mining no longer need the powerful minting equipment they were previously using.
It was required for solving complex mathematical equations that rewarded them in the form of Ether tokens, but now these machines have been rendered useless.
The impact
Therefore, the most common phrases that can be found in online groups of crypto miners from Vietnam are related to saying goodbye to Ethereum or selling the mining rigs used.
Considering that a large number of miners in Vietnam had been engaged in Ethereum mining, they are obviously facing problems.
Some said that while they were aware that this day would eventually happen, they had hoped that ‘The Merge’ would be delayed, as it had been before, so they could mine some more.
The mining pools have shut down in Vietnam, which means that miners have had to turn off their rigs because they cannot mine anymore.
Ethermine is the largest mining pool for Ethereum and it announced that it was closing its services. It also said that the unpaid balances of miners would be transferred in a few days.
Crypto farms
The biggest impact has been seen on large crypto farms. Some revealed that they had expanded their mining farms and had not been able to recoup their investment as yet.
However, most of them have now collapsed. A lot of them had used their savings for getting mining rigs. Some wanted to use the equipment for mining other coins.
But, they had to give up on these plans as well because the cost of electricity would be too high, which means they would not be able to make a profit.
A lot of crypto miners in Vietnam are also expecting that a new branch of Ethereum will be formed that still supports the PoW mechanism.
But, there is still no report regarding this matter, which means that they have to wait and accept their losses because nothing can be done for now.
Dogecoin has become the largest crypto token that supports mining, now that Ethereum switched to PoS.