Overview
EthereumFair (ETHF) emerged from the September 2022 Ethereum Merge as one of several proof-of-work forks attempting to preserve the pre-Merge mining chain. While the Ethereum community overwhelmingly supported the transition to proof-of-stake, displaced GPU miners and opportunistic developers forked the chain to maintain PoW operations.
ETHF positioned itself as the "fair" Ethereum PoW continuation, but the branding masked a fundamental problem: there was barely enough demand for one Ethereum PoW fork (ETHW), let alone two or three. EthereumFair entered an already-crowded field of PoW forks competing for a rapidly shrinking pool of miners and users who preferred proof-of-work Ethereum.
The chain is a direct copy of Ethereum's state at the time of The Merge, which means it inherited all smart contracts, token balances, and DeFi protocols. However, none of those protocols are actively maintained on ETHF — they are frozen snapshots with no liquidity, no oracles, and no developer support.
Technology
ETHF runs the same EVM execution environment as Ethereum pre-Merge. There are no meaningful technical innovations — the chain is a carbon copy of Ethereum's PoW consensus with no modifications that would distinguish it from ETHW or Ethereum Classic. The technology is dated and lacks the improvements that Ethereum has implemented post-Merge (blob transactions, improved finality, etc.).
Block times, gas mechanics, and smart contract compatibility are identical to pre-Merge Ethereum, but this compatibility is meaningless without an active ecosystem to use it.
Security
Hash rate on ETHF is negligible. The chain is theoretically vulnerable to 51% attacks given the low mining participation. Without significant economic value on the chain, there is little incentive for miners to provide security, creating a negative feedback loop: low value → low hash rate → low security → lower value.
The inherited smart contracts have no active maintenance, meaning any vulnerabilities discovered in the original contracts post-fork remain unpatched on ETHF.
Decentralization
The mining network is small and likely concentrated among a handful of mining pools. Governance is opaque — the team behind ETHF has minimal public presence and limited community engagement. Node count is unknown but presumably very low.
Ecosystem
The ecosystem is effectively nonexistent. While smart contracts from Ethereum exist on the chain, no major DeFi protocol, NFT marketplace, or dApp actively supports ETHF. TVL is near zero. There are no active developers building on the chain. The "ecosystem" consists of the chain itself and a few exchange listings.
Tokenomics
ETHF's tokenomics mirror pre-Merge Ethereum's PoW emission schedule. Block rewards are distributed to miners, but with near-zero transaction volume, miner revenue comes almost entirely from block rewards rather than fees. The token trades at a fraction of a dollar with minimal liquidity on a handful of minor exchanges.
Risk Factors
- Dead chain: No active ecosystem, developers, or meaningful on-chain activity
- 51% attack vulnerability: Negligible hash rate makes the chain insecure
- No differentiation: Offers nothing that ETHW or Ethereum Classic don't already provide
- Delisting risk: Exchanges may delist due to lack of volume and relevance
- Inherited vulnerabilities: Smart contracts from Ethereum snapshot remain unpatched
- Zero developer interest: No known development teams building on ETHF
Conclusion
EthereumFair is a dead PoW fork that failed to justify its existence. The Ethereum Merge created an opportunity for PoW forks, but the market only had room for one — and even EthereumPoW (ETHW) has struggled to maintain relevance. ETHF scored 1.5, reflecting a chain that technically functions but serves no purpose. It is a ghost chain — blocks are produced, but nobody is using them. The "fair" in EthereumFair is marketing without substance.