The core development team behind the proof-of-work (PoW) fork of Ethereum made a significant announcement on Tuesday. They have decided to dissolve EthereumPOW’s centralized structure in favor of complete decentralization. This move aims to hand over the governance of the EthereumPOW blockchain to its community of users and miners, relying solely on PoW consensus and decentralized governance.
The Journey to Decentralization
The Ethereum hard fork took place in September 2022, just before the main Ethereum blockchain transitioned from PoW consensus to a more energy-efficient proof-of-stake model. However, some developers and miners were unhappy with the perceived centralization and potential loss of revenues. To address these concerns, EthereumPOW was created to preserve the original PoW-based Ethereum.
“We have explored and validated the feasibility of ETHW operating independently without Core’s support, confirming the fundamental technical and operational conditions for ETHW in such a scenario,” said Lead EthereumPOW developer Jadal Page.
Since its launch, the forked token ETHW has faced challenges in gaining adoption. Grayscale, a major institutional investor in cryptocurrencies, decided against supporting ETHW, citing a lack of liquidity and custodial support. As a result, ETHW’s value has declined significantly from its initial launch price.
Embracing Community Governance
Recognizing the need for change, the EthereumPOW team is dissolving centralized control and embracing community governance. By doing so, they hope to reinvigorate the network and regain traction. As part of this transition, servers supporting the EthereumPOW network will be transferred to OneDAO, a decentralized protocol on the Harmony blockchain.
OneDAO will provide transitional maintenance for EthereumPOW until long-term ecosystem partners can be established. This technical assistance during the transitional period will allow the developers to step back and allow the community to take charge.
Ultimately, the success of EthereumPOW relies on whether the cryptocurrency community chooses to adopt it over the dominant Ethereum proof-of-stake blockchain. Transitioning from centralized control to complete decentralization marks an important milestone for EthereumPOW and its potential future in the decentralized landscape.
