Key Takeaways
- Ethereum hashrate recovers to an all-time high
- The crackdown on mining activities by Chinese authorities led to a sharp decline in Ether hashrate
- Miners still sticking with Ethereum despite gradual migration to a proof-of-stake consensus.
Ethereum hashrate was previously at an all-time high in early May, which was during the peak of the bullish run after the altcoin hit an ATH of $4400.
However, the hashrate started to dip some days later following Chinese authorities' massive crackdown on crypto mining activities.
This move by Chinese regulators primarily caused the sharp bearish trend that followed with the price of Ether dropping from $4,000 to around $2,300.
It also coincided with a yearly low in hashrate for the Ethereum blockchain.
Since then, many mining companies in China have shut down their operations and migrated to neighbouring countries that have crypto-mining friendly regulations.
This development has slowly reduced the number of Ethereum miners in China, and the hash power of Ethereum has become evenly distributed towards other regions.
Fast forward to September, and the Ethereum hashrate has recovered to record levels of 716 TH/s according to data recorded from Etherscan.
Looking at the Ethereum ecosystem, significant developments have continually shifted the blockchain network from the proof-of-work consensus.
The successful London hard fork implemented in August has seen a record number of Ether burnt daily.
Additionally, the upcoming migration to Ethereum 2.0 will reduce the benefits for miners and lead the altcoin to the less-energy consuming proof-of-stake network.
Despite this, miners are reluctant to leave the Ethereum blockchain due to the increased opportunities in the NFT and decentralized finance (DeFi) sector.
As a result, Ethereum remains the leading smart contract despite the growing competition from Solana and Binance Smart Chain.
The rise of the Ethereum hashrate has also coincided with a mini bull run for Ether. At the time of writing, Ether is valued at $3,540 per token.
Do you think the rise in Ethereum hashrate could lead to an extended Bullrun?
