In July, ETC increased by more than 150 percent as ETH 2.0 approaches

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The value of Ethereum Classic (ETC) surged by more than 150 percent in July, making it one of the top performing digital assets of the month.

As of press time, the asset was trading at $36.50, down more than 11% in the previous 24 hours.

Interest in the asset peaked when Ethereum (ETH) developers published the date for The Merge, raising the prospect of miners being kicked off the network.

Amazing - miner revenue/hash in USD for ETC has just surpassed that for ETH... (chart @coinmetrics) pic.twitter.com/x5RJs7lUrj
— Noelle Acheson (@NoelleInMadrid) July 29, 2022

Meanwhile, ETC is a hard-forked version of Ethereum that emerged following the 2016 DAO breach.

Miners may switch to Ethereum Classic.

Several analysts have stated that miners quitting Ethereum may be able to find a new home in Ethereum Classic since the sibling blockchain is said to be compatible with Ethereum mining equipment.

During a recent speech in Paris, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin first mentioned the idea of miners transferring to Ethereum Classic.

Buterin is said to have advised developers and consumers who are unsure about the Merge to return to the Ethereum Classic chain. He said:

It’s a very welcoming community. If you like proof of work, you should go use Ethereum Classic, it’s a totally fine chain.

According to Messari's Sami Kasab, ETC is the only proof-of-work digital currency that the ETH ASIC machine can mine.

According to Kasab:

“Ethereum’s mining network is made up of two types of hardware: ASICs and GPUs. The problem with ASICs is that they can’t be repurposed for different applications besides mining ETH. Ethereum Classic is the only other PoW coin that can be mined with an ETH ASIC, since its hashing algorithm is compatible with ETH’s algorithm.”

Meanwhile, Bitmain's AntPool mining pool has expressed support for Ethereum Classic by investing $10 million in the ecosystem.

Miners may revolt.

After the Merge, miners may continue to mine on the proof-of-work version of Ethereum.

According to a Galois Capital study, 33% of respondents believe the Merge would result in two parallel networks in ETH1 (PoW) and ETH2 (POS).

Let’s support the ETC ecosystem and incubate high-quality PoW projects together！ https://t.co/AHft6WfGES
— ANTPOOL (@AntPoolofficial) July 27, 2022

The conversation over forking Ethereum PoW has heated up, with Chandler Guo at the front.

Question 1: What happens during the merge? If Choice 2 or 3 go to Questions 2-5.
— Galois Capital (@Galois_Capital) July 27, 2022

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