What would happen if the ETH went back to POW (Proof of Work)?

[rdluffy]

The title says it all
Imagine that the ETH devs decide to go back to Proof of Work, the way we knew it a few years ago, with GPU mining being the most popular one

What do you think would happen in relation to:

Coin price
Network security
GPU market
Trust in the ETH team

[ABCbits]

I don't think it'll happen, since ETH validator, staker and staking service will heavily oppose it.

What do you think would happen in relation to:

GPU market

At least for this aspect, condition of GPU market will be even worse. In past few months, i've seen news that claim there's GPU shortage and higher GPU price within GPU aimed for general customer. After all, both Nvidia and AMD seems to focused on GPU for AI usage.

[Jating]

The title says it all
Imagine that the ETH devs decide to go back to Proof of Work, the way we knew it a few years ago, with GPU mining being the most popular one

What do you think would happen in relation to:

Coin price
Network security
GPU market
Trust in the ETH team

It might take years though before we can see the old ETH. I mean the consensus and the support of the many. As we all know that when they move to PoS, everything went haywire as there are only a few who have supported it or it turn out to be centralized and that really sway a lot of investors. But not sure if they will have plans as when they move to PoS, they know that it's no turning back and that it might not bring good to their environment and that's what happened here.

[hugeblack]

Proof of Work coins are no longer as popular as they once were, and we already have Ethereum Classic based on Proof of Work, which has not achieved significant success.
The problem with Ethereum is inflation, burning, and staking more than the principle.

[target]

Proof of Work coins are no longer as popular as they once were, and we already have Ethereum Classic based on Proof of Work, which has not achieved significant success.
The problem with Ethereum is inflation, burning, and staking more than the principle.

If only there are developers using ETC, creating their tokens in ETC, I think  it would achieve higher heights.

ETH validators is benefiting too much in ETH, they earn ETH easily by being a validator so they are not going to think twice of selling what they just make by being a validator. No wonder price is not rising anymore.

[rdluffy]

Hey guys, I know that ETH won't go back on the POS, but I made the topic just to be a “what if” 

For example, what would happen to the price?
Would the validators take their ETH and sell it?
Would the community embrace ETH again?

Regarding GPUs, the market is already scarce and with prices only increasing, it's difficult to find them for MSRP, just imagine if miners bought up all the available cards again?

[hugeblack]

For example, what would happen to the price?
Would the validators take their ETH and sell it?
Would the community embrace ETH again?

It may react well in the short term, but if it negatively impacts fees, the long-term impact on the price could be extremely negative.


It depends on why they bought Ethereum. If it was for staking and the price continues to decline, they will inevitably sell their holdings.


Which community are you referring to? Current communities focus on quick profits rather than the concepts of decentralization.

[rdluffy]

...
Which community are you referring to? Current communities focus on quick profits rather than the concepts of decentralization.

I'm talking about the miners
My opinion is that the miners were good holders of ETH and were the largest community of the coin

Many people thought that miners just dumped the mined ETH and nothing else. However, ETH's ATH was in 2021, when the coin was still minable
In theory, without miners and with stakers, the coin was supposed to become scarcer and worth more
That's not what happened

[Kemarit]

Proof of Work coins are no longer as popular as they once were, and we already have Ethereum Classic based on Proof of Work, which has not achieved significant success.

I think it is still popular, however, we all know that Ethereum Classic is a force from Ethereum itself, that's why it's not the original and there are not much support as compare to Ethereum when they are in POW.

The problem with Ethereum is inflation, burning, and staking more than the principle.

And also the gas fees that they haven't solved when they change to POS. It was supposedly the solution, but obviously but now we all know that is not the truth.

[joniboini]

In past few months, i've seen news that claim there's GPU shortage and higher GPU price within GPU aimed for general customer. After all, both Nvidia and AMD seems to focused on GPU for AI usage.

I believe AMD is still allocating many of its dies for the gaming market. I read that they've outsold the Nvidia 50 series by 10 times or so based on one retailer's data. I think Microcenter also sold a ton of them. But yeah, the supply is not enough for the demand we currently have. If there a new mining opportunities with ETH or other coins, the price will get even worse regardless of what AMD or Nvidia prioritizes. Even the secondhand market is not that good right now IMO. The previous 2 gen high-end GPU is still quite expensive.

[ABCbits]

In past few months, i've seen news that claim there's GPU shortage and higher GPU price within GPU aimed for general customer. After all, both Nvidia and AMD seems to focused on GPU for AI usage.

I believe AMD is still allocating many of its dies for the gaming market. I read that they've outsold the Nvidia 50 series by 10 times or so based on one retailer's data. I think Microcenter also sold a ton of them.

I don't know which retailer you're talking about. But the trend is different on Amazon, see https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Computer-Graphics-Cards/zgbs/pc/284822.

But yeah, the supply is not enough for the demand we currently have. If there a new mining opportunities with ETH or other coins, the price will get even worse regardless of what AMD or Nvidia prioritizes. Even the secondhand market is not that good right now IMO. The previous 2 gen high-end GPU is still quite expensive.

I agree. Although it comes down to which PoW algorithm used by ETH, where it may be more efficient on CPU or certain type of CPU.

[rdluffy]

I believe AMD is still allocating many of its dies for the gaming market. I read that they've outsold the Nvidia 50 series by 10 times or so based on one retailer's data. I think Microcenter also sold a ton of them. But yeah, the supply is not enough for the demand we currently have. If there a new mining opportunities with ETH or other coins, the price will get even worse regardless of what AMD or Nvidia prioritizes. Even the secondhand market is not that good right now IMO. The previous 2 gen high-end GPU is still quite expensive.

After the pandemic, the GPU market never returned to what it was before
Even today, years later, there is still talk of a shortage of some products and demand seems to be high
In Brazil it is practically impossible to find a GPU at a fair price, they are all priced much higher than they used to be
And even in the US, which had an MSRP price, it is difficult to find

If there was another mining boom, I'm sure all stocks would be zeroed out

[MrSpasybo]

The title says it all
Imagine that the ETH devs decide to go back to Proof of Work, the way we knew it a few years ago, with GPU mining being the most popular one

What do you think would happen in relation to:

Coin price
Network security
GPU market
Trust in the ETH team

Well, I can't think of any reason for the Ethereum Foundation to lead the community back to POW. The POS upgrade was a major success for Ethereum, and the current weakness of ETC and ETHW has confirmed the validity of POS.

I'm not too concerned about the GPU market, my only fear is that if we return to POW, this project will lose the trust of users and investors because it goes against what was previously stated about the advantages of POS over POW. When user and investor confidence is damaged, the token price will no longer be supported, and ETH could become a disastrously failed token in the crypto market. Obviously, this is not what I want, and it's very unlikely to happen.

[TomPluz]

Realistically speaking, there is now no turning back for Ethereum to the previous Proof-of-Work because doing so can destroy their credibility and can roll back the many progress the network already achieved. So it would be some kind of crazy for Ethereum devs to do it. I am also wondering if there is already a precedent of a network going back to the past because if there is none the more it would be impossible for Ethereum to do it. Now, in case that it can happen, then am sure it can create more chaos for Ethereum and can negatively affects its price and its supporters may drop it dead in the middle of the winter, so to speak. In addition, doing so can put more pressure on the weight of Vitalik Buterin leading him to suffer anorexia (just kidding!).