"Following Ethereum’s transition from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoW) roughly five different crypto assets were the main beneficiaries of Ethereum’s former hashrate. However, 24 hours after The Merge, anonymous developers launched an Ethereum PoW fork called ETHW and the fork has managed to garner 60.92 terahash per second (TH/s) of hashpower" [Redman, J. New Ethereum PoW Fork Gathers 60 Terahash From Well Known Pools, ETHW’s Price Shudders 39% in 24 Hours. (Accessed September 17, 2022)].
However ... this forked 'birth' was not without it's immediate troubles.
"[T]he chain suffered technical issues after the launch, which put downward pressure on its ETHW token. The price of ETHW has dropped by 65% since ETHPoW's launch to around $14 on Sept. 16, according to CoinMarketCap. At its lowest, the token was changing hands for $9.50" [Gola, Y. Does Ethereum's new ETHPoW fork stand a chance? ETHW price falls 65% post-Merge. (Accessed September 17, 2022)]. (NOTE : ETHPoW is currently trading at $8.61 as of September 17, 2022 @ 15:05 ET).
The blockchain is now operational and according to reports, the ETHW project had a few hiccups while starting the network. It was reported that the ETHW core developers mistakenly leveraged a Chain ID that’s tied to the Smart Bitcoin Cash Testnet. The mistake caused observers to ridicule the project, but others said that it did not matter that the blockchain devs chose a Chain ID already in use.
[Redman, supra].
"The ETHPoW recognized the issue and adjusted the ChainID later on Sept. 15. However, several miners appeared to have pulled out despite a few major pools continuing to mine the PoW chain" [Gola, supra]. As a result, the ETHPoW hash rate fell to 66.64 TH/s after peaking at 80.56 TH/s on September 16, 2022.
Nonetheless, this initial error could create yet another potential problem - a 'replay attack' - which happens when "a cybercriminal eavesdrops on a secure network communication, intercepts it, and then fraudulently delays or resends it to misdirect the receiver into doing what the hacker wants. The added danger of replay attacks is that a hacker doesn't even need advanced skills to decrypt a message after capturing it from the network. The attack could be successful simply by resending the whole thing" [Kaspersky. What Is a Replay Attack?. (Accessed September 17, 2022)]. One of the best examples of a replay attack occurs when testnet transactions are repeated on a real blockchain to steal funds.
However, the source code for ETHW was updated in August providing some protection against the occurence of this type of attack.
According to the official Github page of Ethereum PoW, the project received the second code update, with EIP-155 being enforced. The fundamental value of this update lies in the Chain ID, which would be a mandatory sign for all the transactions on the network. The new update is an important step for adding more protection to the PoW version of the second biggest cryptocurrency on the market as it would protect the coin from a replay attack of other forks.
[Shirinyan, A. Ethereum PoW Receives Extremely Important Update. (Accessed September 17, 2022)].
But it sure does make one question what exactly is going on 'behind the scenes' at ETHW.
Out of more than 12,000 crypto assets in existence, ETHW’s market cap is ranked #2,666. Data shows on September 16, that ETHW has seen $113.38 million in global trade volume during the past 24 hours [...] The ETHW project has managed to gather roughly 60.92 TH/s of Ethash hashpower from The Merge. This means ETHW’s hashrate is only 26% of the size of Ethereum Classic’s hashrate at 232.51 terahash per second (TH/s). ETHW’s USD value only represents 36% of ethereum classic’s (ETC) U.S. dollar value when it used to be closer to parity, two days ago. While ETHW is ranked #2,666, ETC is ranked #19 on September 16, and ETC has $1.46 billion in global trade volume during the past 24 hours. Today, there are two Ethereum-based PoW alternatives but ETC is the reigning champ by price and trade volume alongside the hashrate which is three times larger.
[Redman, supra].
Despite the foregoing, ETHW has garnered some support by being listed on several major exchanges. "On Friday morning (ET), ETHW’s Twitter account tweeted about Huobi, Poolin, Kraken, Dex Screener, Bitrue, Kyber Network, and Math Wallet supporting the new ETHW asset" [Redman, supra]. "In addition, BitTrue has also introduced an ETHW-based liquidity staking service that offers depositors a 6% annual return" [Gola, supra].
So the start of ETHPoW has been shaky at best. And although being listed on several major exchanges, it appears that the ETHW 'project' is losing steam and moving in a backward direction. Accordingly, ETHW's long term existence potential must be cause for serious concern. Life support for this project should not yet be removed as failure is a real possibility.