As of July 2025, the Ethereum network has fully transitioned to the Proof of Stake (PoS) mechanism, and the native Proof of Work (PoW) mining function was permanently shut down on September 15, 2022 (announced by the Ethereum Foundation Merge). This means that traditional graphics cards or ASIC mining machines can no longer directly mine ETH. After existing miners migrate to alternative chains such as ETC and Ravencoin, their earnings have structurally declined. Take Bitmain’s E9 mining machine as an example. Despite its claimed computing power reaching 3,600 MH/s, the daily revenue from switching to Ethereum Classic (ETC) mining is only $18.3, while the average daily electricity cost (calculated at $0.07 per kilowatt-hour) is as high as $23.6, resulting in a net loss of $5.3 per machine per day (Hiveon mining Pool’s report in June 2025). Currently, the active addresses of global ETH mining pools have dropped to zero, the residual value of historical mining machines has fallen by 82%, and the second-hand price of NVIDIA RTX 4090 graphics cards has dropped to 37% of the initial price (CoinGecko hardware tracking data).
The economic model of alternative chain mining needs actuarial verification. The current total computing power of the ETC network is 122.5 TH/s, a 64% decrease compared to before the Ethereum merge (2Miners statistics). If the Antminer S19 XP Hyd (with a rated computing power of 257 TH/s) is used, under the condition of an electricity cost of 0.06 US dollars per kilowatt-hour, the daily net income is 4.17 US dollars, and the static payback period is as long as 638 days (WhatToMine income calculator). The more energy-efficient Bitmain S21 mining machine (with an energy efficiency ratio of 17.5 J/TH) has seen its daily earnings rise to $7.85 under the same conditions. However, the purchase cost of $12,500 still needs 159 days to recover, and it also bears the risk of incurring losses if the ETC price drops by 18% (F2Pool yield simulation).
Energy costs have become the core variable for profit and loss. In the industrial electricity price environment of Texas, USA (0.048 US dollars per kilowatt-hour), the S21 mining machine can achieve a daily net profit of 9.3 US dollars, but in Germany (0.32 US dollars per kilowatt-hour), it incurs a daily loss of 11.2 US dollars (CryptoCompare electricity price database). In 2025, the EU carbon tariff will increase the compliance cost for mines by an additional $0.014 per kilowatt-hour and phase out equipment with an energy efficiency ratio higher than 23 J/TH (Cambridge University CCAF research report). Although the operating cost of Kazakhstan’s hydropower mines is only 0.03 US dollars per kilowatt-hour, the policy restrictions in 2024 led to a 73% reduction in operating licenses, and the average premium of compliant mines reached 42% of the electricity price base (BitRiver Geopolitical Risk Analysis).
Staking mining has become a new revenue paradigm. The current annualized yield for staking on the Ethereum Beacon Chain is 5.2% (real-time data from beaconcha.in), and a minimum investment of 32 ETH (approximately $109,360) is required. Liquid staking derivatives such as Lido’s stETH allow small participation but charge a 10% share of the earnings. When users explore alternatives to how do i mine ethereum, they need to consider the 32 ETH hardware staking scheme: Self-built nodes require a 4-core CPU/16GB memory device (with a cost of approximately $1,200), and the annual operation and maintenance cost is $280, reducing the net return rate to 4.65% (Ethereum official documentation). In contrast, although centralized exchange staking offers a base return of 4.1%, there is a risk of custody. In November 2024, a technical failure at Coinbase caused a 14-hour interruption of staking for 27,000 users (The Block incident report).
Conclusive indicators reveal the realistic threshold. According to the Stacking Rewards 2025 industry survey, the profit proportion of home miners switching to PoW alternative chains is only 12.8%, mainly due to equipment energy efficiency not meeting the industry average standard (21.4 J/TH vs. top mining machines 16.3 J/TH). The median annualized return for participants staking Ethereum with more than ten thousand US dollars is 4.87%, but they have to bear the price fluctuations of ETH – when the coin price drops by 30%, 83% of stakers actually have a negative return (simulated by the Rocket Pool economic model). Continuous monitoring of network parameters (such as the current annual inflation rate of 0.41% in the beacon chain) and changes in energy policies (the EU’s MiCA 2.0 has raised the energy efficiency requirements for mining farms to 35% with a share of renewable energy) has become an essential risk control measure.