The world-renowned Ethereum blockchain network recently hit a new all-time high hashrate.
Many schools of thought have attributed this new Ethereum hashrate to the current DeFi boom in the crypto space. Ethereum hashrate, also known as its processing power, on October 6, 2020, increased to over 254,000 GH/s (Giga hash per second). This is way above its August 2018 all-time high of 248,000 GH/s. The price of Ethereum’s token (ETH), however, has remained relatively stable, currently trading at $382.
ICYMI: Ethereum hashrate hit a new all-time high amid DeFi growthhttps://t.co/fnnRVM6880
— The Block (@TheBlock__) October 8, 2020
Ethereum network’s new all-time high hashrate indicates the increasing number of miners on the network. This, however, shouldn’t come as a surprise as increasing gas fees is enough incentive to attract miners to the network. As more Ethereum miners mint ETH, the blockchain becomes less susceptible to cyberattacks. ETH is a major player in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. ETH’s increase in processing power has been linked to the current boom in DeFi protocols.
ETH hashrate and increased earnings for miners
Last month, Ethereum miners earned more money from gas fees than from its block rewards. Interestingly, this is the first time this has occurred on Ethereum since the network’s inception. Miners made a total of $22 million more from gas fees than from block rewards. $172 million was made from gas fees while $150 million was made from block rewards. These numbers took the total revenue on the blockchain network to roughly $322 million.
Glassnode reports that Ethereum miners saw a 47% increase in transaction fee revenue from August to September. The continuous expansion of the DeFi space is the sole cause of the increase in all-time high and subsequent increase in earning on Ethereum.
The network, however, faces a huge scalability issue. However, plans are in place to completely put an end to all forms of scalability issues on ETH with its proposed ETH 2.0 protocol. The protocol is, however, estimated to go live in the second half of next year.
As at the time of writing, ETH was trading at $382.
Find out more about the ETH 2.0 launch on the Altcoin Buzz YouTube channel.
