1. Introduction

1.1. Ethereum Minning

Mining is the process of creating a block of transactions to be added to the Ethereum blockchain in Ethereum's now-deprecated proof-of-work architecture. The word mining originates in the context of the gold analogy for cryptocurrencies. Gold or precious metals are scarce, so are digital tokens, and the only way to increase the total volume in a proof-of-work system is through mining. In proof-of-work Ethereum, the only mode of issuance was via mining. Unlike gold or precious metals however, Ethereum mining was also the way to secure the network by creating, verifying, publishing and propagating blocks in the blockchain [].

Mining ether = Securing the Network

Mining is the lifeblood of any proof-of-work blockchain. Ethereum miners - computers running software - used their time and computation power to process transactions and produce blocks prior to the transition to proof-of-stake [].

1.2. Existence of Miners

In decentralized systems like Ethereum, we need to ensure that everyone agrees on the order of transactions. Miners helped this happen by solving computationally difficult puzzles to produce blocks, securing the network from attacks [].

1.3. Ethereum Merge

The upgrade, known as the 'Merge', replaced powerful graphic cards used by Ether miners with investors who stake Ether, in order to secure the Ethereum network and validate transaction data encrypted by the blockchain [].

The Merge was the joining of the original execution layer of Ethereum (the Mainnet that has existed since genisis) with its new proof-of-stake consensus layer, the Beacon Chain. It eliminated the need for energy-intensive mining and instead enabled the network to be secured using staked ETH. It was a truly exciting step in realizing the Ethereum vision—more scalability, security, and sustainability.

The Merge marked the end of proof-of-work for Ethereum and start the era of a more sustainable, eco-friendly Ethereum. Ethereum's energy consumption dropped by an estimated 99.95%, making Ethereum a green blockchain. Learn more about Ethereum energy consumption. The Merge also set the stage for further scalability upgrades not possible under proof-of-work, bringing Ethereum one step closer to achieving the full scale, security, and sustainability outlined in its Ethereum vision [].

2. methodology

The data in this dashboard has been extracted from “ethereum.core.fact_blocks” table

In this dashboard's first stage, some general data is given about Ethereum’s miners.

Then in the second part, the reaction of miners after the fast-approaching merge is investigated comprehensively (2022).

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3. Results and Discussion

These charts and data show some general useful information about Ethereum’s miners for the given period of 2015 to 2022. It can be concluded that although total unique miners, total transactions, and average transactions per block showed a small increase from 2015 to 2022, the activity of the top 50 miners has decreased significantly. Further investigation has been carried out in the next part.

• It can be observed that the number of miners in the period of Jan 1 to Sep 14, 2022, has decreased from 151 to 87 in the period of Jul 1 to Sep 14, 2022. This number has decreased to 76 for the period of Aug 5 - Sep 14, 2022. Moreover, eleven miners stopped mining during this period (After Aug 4, 2022).
• TP80 stands for the normal mining rate of the miner, while the inactive hour stands for the time that miner is inactive. It can be observed that inactive hour of miners is way more than their TP80 normal mining rate (After Aug 4, 2022).

The author of this dashboard would like to show the best gratitude to phu, hashem369, and alialivand1212.

The results of their dashboard truly helped me to do my own analysis:

This dashboard aims to investigate the miners' reaction to the fast-approaching merge (Are they still working, or did they quit?)

3.1. Ethereum Mining (General Information)

3.2. Behavior of Ethereum’s miners after fast-approaching merge

In this dashboard, a period between Jan 1 and Sep 14, 2022 (focus on a few weeks before the merge) is chosen.

In order to find out the miners’ activity changes before and after the merge, the following periods have been chosen:

• Jan 1 - Jun 30, 2022

• Jul 1 - Aug 4, 2022

• Aug 5 - Sep 14, 2022