Ethereum’s hash rate has increased by nearly 30% since the start of 2020 to the current levels of 187,369 GH/s suggesting that miners are becoming more involved before the impending launch of Ethereum 2.0.
According to data from Etherscan, ETH’s hash rate started the year at approximately 147,405 GH/s. Almost immediately it increased by 10%, and since then it has continued with the same positive trend. At the time of this writing, the hash rate is at 187,369 GH/s, marking an increase of about 27%.
Naturally, the rising hash rate means a more secure network and a lower chance of a 51% attack. A website calculating the potential costs of running such attacks on the various blockchain networks estimates that the necessary amount to jeopardize Ethereum is about $140,000 per hour.
This places ETH at the second position on this scale, trailing only to Bitcoin. Although BTC’s hash rate dropped after the halving in May, the costs for a 1-hour attack is more than $430,000.
Despite the recent increases, Ethereum’s hash rate is still significantly lower than its all-time high levels of 2018. From March to October in that year, the hash rate was almost constantly over 250,000 GH/s, and it peaked on August 9th, just shy 300K GH/s.
2020 could be an essential year for ETH as the community is anticipating the launch of the long-awaited Ethereum 2.0. This upgrade will see the network transition from the current proof-of-work consensus algorithm to proof-of-stake. By implementing it, the company aims to address some present security and scalability issues.
While Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of the project, recently revealed the launch of various Layer 2 solutions on Ethereum, the precise date of the ETH 2.0 release is still unknown.
This year has been considerably positive price-wise as well for the second-seeded cryptocurrency by market cap. ETH entered the new century at about $130 and is currently trading at $243. This represents surge of 87%, even though the asset plunged to below $90 during the Black Thursday in mid-March.
Despite the yearly increase, a recent report outlined that the asset’s price is still “significantly undervalued.” It based its conclusion on several key metrics, including developments, gas usage, and HODLing mentality from investors and miners.