Ethereum Proof of Work (Mining) vs Proof of Stake (Staking) Profitability Comparison

In the third quarter of 2022 Ethereum is expected to switch to Proof-of-Stake. This will put an end to ETH mining on GPUs, and the Minerall Pool where users are actively mining ETH now is no exception. After the upgrade the reward process will involve locking Ether in a special contract. How much will validators earn in Ethereum 2.0 and how much less will it be compared to mining? Let’s get into it.

Ethereum 2.0 is a set of upgrades to the current Ethereum blockchain. First of all, it introduces Proof-of-Stake consensus: validators that stake ETH will replace GPU miners in creating blocks and ensuring the network security.

Eth2 also introduces sharding that will increase the cryptocurrency blockchain bandwidth 64 times. It means that it will be able to handle at least 64x more transactions per second and even more going forward.

The initial phase of transition to Eth2 known as Phase 0 started on December 1, 2020. That was when Ethereum launched its new network called Beacon Chain that activated the Proof-of-Stake mechanism.

Although PoS is more eco-friendly as it doesn’t require a lot of power, miners are not particularly happy about the new consensus algorithm. It will be much less profitable and it doesn’t need GPUs. After the merge of the current network Ethereum 1.0 with Beacon Chain miners will have to use their GPUs to mine other coins. How much less profitable is staking compared to mining?

To answer this question, we found out their profitability and compared them. We also talk about positive and negative aspects of Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-Stake.

Contents

• Ethereum’s Staking ProfitabilityAdvantages of Ethereum’s PoS
• Disadvantages of ETH Proof-of-Stake
• What Can Cause Staking Profitability to Drop

Ethereum’s Staking Profitability

It’s quite easy to find out staking profitability in Ethereum 2.0: the Launchpad webpage displays up-to-date stats. It also contains guidelines for validators willing to help to secure the blockchain and earn rewards.

At the current amount of coins at stake, the annual percentage rate is 5.2%. So if you invest $100 thousand, in a year you will get $105.2 thousand, provided that the cryptocurrency rate remains stable.