Ethereum Classic will host “Thanos” hardfork
Block # 11,700,000 will host an network upgrade (hardfork) ECIP-1099, codenamed “Thanos”, of the Ethereum Classic which aims to improve network security after a series of “51% attacks” in August 2020 and also change the mining algorithm to EtcHash.
The countdown to the hardfork can be viewed here https://etcnodes.org/thanos
What will change on the network
With Thanos’ hardfork, epoch will double from 30,000 to 60,000 blocks, while effectively reducing the DAG in such a way that its size will allow mining not only to holders of GPUs with 4GB of video memory, but also to return to mining for owners of 3GB GPUs.
In this way Thanos will reduce the size of the DAG, leading to a more distributed and healthier mining ecosystem with increased overall network capacity, which, together with the Exponential Subjective Scoring (MESS) solution introduced to the Mordor testnet, will improve the security of the network, in particular by making “ 51% attacks ”are less likely.
The timing of the hardfork is also not accidental, as 4 GB cards on Ethereum mining are living their last days and Thanos, like the famous Marvel Studios movie hero from the blockbuster “Avengers: Infinity War”, is called upon to collect them into his network like stones of infinity. And there is something to collect from, since according to public statistics from Hive OS, the share of cards with 3-4 GB is more than 30% of the total number of GPUs. Hive OS is the #1 mining platform, so we consider this data to be quite representative.
How mining will change
The new mining algorithm is called EtcHash. Miners can expect the same hashrates on it as on the Ethash algorithm, and owners of Nvidia 10xx series cards (“Pascal family”) are even slightly higher from the current values due to the reduced DAG file. The overclocking and downvolting parameters will remain the same or even more gentle. Again, owners of cards from the Pascal family can recall the settings of a year or a half years ago.
According to the available information, ASIC manufacturers for the ethash algorithm don’t plan to release a firmware version for this algorithm.
There are also no plans to support EtcHash on the NiceHash service, which, in turn, was accused of complicity in the past August “51% attacks”.
Thus, today there is a situation that the owners of 3GB or more have received at their disposal a real coin, mined only on the GPU.
Miners
Hive OS team reviewed all miners that are ready for the Ethereum Classic hardfork and will allow you to mine on the new algorithm. You can mine Ethereum Classic profitably on our Hiveon ETC mining pool, and most importantly, it can also be done conveniently using our Hive OS.
Below we provide data on the necessary settings for miners, which will allow you to make the transition from one algorithm to another without requiring your intervention.
Miner name | Version | Platform | Notes about autoswitch to EtcHash |
---|---|---|---|
nanominer | 1.12.0+ | N + A | Switch from ethash to etchash hardcoded on epoch 390 if there is coin = ETC in the configuration |
lolMiner* | 1.12+ | N + A | using algo etchash for auto-switch |
Gminer | 2.30+ | N + A | using algo etchash for auto-switch |
T-Rex Miner* | 0.8.18+ | N | adding to config "fork-at": "etchash=epoch:390"
|
SRBMiner-Multi | 0.5.6+ | A | Only manual switching! |
NBMiner | 33.4+ | N + A | Only manual switching! |
TeamRedMiner* | 0.7.18+ | A | using --eth_variant_mode=etchash
|
PhoenixMiner | 5.3b+ | N + A | need add -coin etc to extra arguments or COIN: etc to Pool URL |
*Recommended miners
All the necessary settings for the new flight for mining on the Hiveon ETC pool using Hive OS are ready. For existing Flight Sheets please update it according to above recommendation depend on what miner are you using.
What’s next
The only question that remains is what will happen to the price of the coin and, accordingly, the yield, but perhaps no one has an answer to this question. And this is what we have to learn together.
Please see additional info below after hardfork here
Thanks
Thank you for your help in clarifying the settings of the miners of their developers: TeamRedMiner, lolMiner, NanoMiner, SRBMiner-Multi, NBMiner.