No, Ethereum has already stopped being mineable. The network transitioned from a Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism (which uses mining) to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) mechanism (which uses "staking") in an event called "The Merge," which was successfully completed on September 15, 2022.
Mining ETH ended permanently in 2022. Luckily, staking offers a profitable and eco-friendly alternative for Ethereum investors.
Short answer: No—Ether (ETH) can't be mined anymore because Ethereum moved from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake (The Merge). You can now earn ETH by staking it or buying it; miners have switched to PoW coins like Ethereum Classic (ETC), Ravencoin, or Kaspa.
5 years ago: If you invested $1,000 in Ethereum in 2020, your investment would be worth $11,145. 10 years ago: If you invested $1,000 in Ethereum in 2015 when it traded at $1.27, your investment would be worth nearly $3.4 million.
Ethereum mining came to a definitive end on September 15, 2022, when the network completed The Merge, a long-anticipated upgrade that transitioned Ethereum from a Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus model to Proof-of-Stake (PoS).
The Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) blockchain went live 10 years ago. If you'd invested $1,000 in Ethereum at that time when it was trading at $2.79, you could have bought about 358 ETH tokens. Your investment would now be worth nearly $1.4 million at the time of this writing (Aug. 8).
A continued deterioration in global risk sentiment - whether due to interest-rate concerns, ongoing selling in high-growth tech stocks or additional leveraged unwinding - could push Ether toward lower price zones that several strategists have identified as potential next stops.
The centerpiece asset of this financial system is the ETH token, and in our updated base case, we believe it to be worth $22k by 2030, representing a total return of 487% from today's ETH price, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 37.8%.
If you had invested $1,000 in Bitcoin five years ago (around mid-2020), your investment would have grown significantly, potentially worth anywhere from roughly $9,000 to over $14,000 by early 2025, depending on the exact purchase date, as Bitcoin saw massive growth but also volatility, experiencing huge gains through its bull runs and drawdowns, showing strong overall returns for long-term holders despite sharp price swings.
Fundstrat investment chief Tom Lee has reiterated his prediction that Ethereum could hit $250,000 in the near future. "If Bitcoin gets to $1 Million, that will value Ethereum at $250,000," Lee, who also doubles as chair of Ethereum treasury company Bitmine (NYSE:BMNR), said in a Jan. 2 message to shareholders.
The time to mine 1 Ethereum varies based on your hardware and hash rate. On average, a high-end rig with 100 MH/s could take around a month when mining in a pool.
It Ethereum Mining Still Profitable? Because Ethereum shifted to proof-of-stake in 2022, you cannot mine ether. But you can mine altcoins that use the same algorithm as Ethereum used to, and some may be profitable.
With the current block rewards, new bitcoins are mined at a rate of approximately 3.125 BTC every 10 minutes. When the final bitcoin is mined around the year 2140, miners will no longer receive new BTC as rewards. Instead, they will rely entirely on transaction fees to cover mining costs and sustain the network.
In solo vs pool mining, solo miners can earn the full block reward, which is higher per block, but blocks are found very rarely. Pool mining provides smaller but frequent payouts, making it more predictable for most miners.
BitMEX chairman Tom Lee believes Ethereum could one day surpass Bitcoin's market dominance, drawing a comparison to how U.S. equities overtook gold after the United States abandoned the gold standard in 1971.
Remember the guy who made the first real-world bitcoin transaction in 2010? He paid 10,000 bitcoins for two pizzas. The coins were worth about $40 then, and more than $1.24 billion when Bitcoin's price went over $124,000 for the first time in August 2025.
Bitcoin could attempt to move toward the $100,000–$105,000 zone by the end of February 2026, provided it reclaims major EMA levels. While current price action reflects consolidation, long-term fundamentals such as institutional inflows, adoption, and limited supply continue to support the broader outlook.
If you're holding crypto, there's no immediate gain or loss, so the crypto is not taxed. Tax is only incurred when you sell the asset, and you subsequently receive either cash or units of another cryptocurrency: At this point, you have “realized” the gains, and you have a taxable event.
Is it worth keeping my Ethereum? It depends on your long-term goals and belief in Ethereum's future potential. Most accomplished investors will argue that the HODL strategy is always the best for future gains, but you must be able to wait out any downward turns.
Market context
Tom Lee, head of research at Fundstrat, CIO of Fundstrat Capital and chairman of BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), told CoinDesk last month that ETH could reach $15,000 by the end of 2025.
That being said, we're likely more than a decade away from quantum machines posing any real threat to blockchain systems. Mounting credible attacks requires quantum computers to have thousands of high-fidelity logical qubits, and even the most advanced systems are far from this currently.
In July 2022, Tesla quietly dumped roughly 75% of its Bitcoin holdings, worth about $936 million, during a period of macroeconomic uncertainty and market stress.
The 1% Rule in crypto (and trading generally) is a risk management strategy where you never risk more than 1% of your total trading capital on a single trade, calculated using a stop-loss to cap potential losses, protecting your account from devastating losses and allowing for consistent, long-term survival in volatile markets. For example, with a $10,000 account, the maximum loss on any one trade should be $100, achieved by sizing your position based on your entry price and stop-loss level.
CNBC, “Warren Buffett says bitcoin is 'probably rat poison squared'.” Fortune, “Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway takes a sip of the crypto 'rat poison' he once said he would never go near.”