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Proof of Work is dominated by expensive and specialized hardware which favors a very specific group of people: those with access to chip manufacturers, low electricity costs and government subsidies.Proof of Stake is a dramatically more green mechanism for securing a blockchain. On the other hand, Proof of Stake requires a comparatively negligible amount of electricity regardless of usage. Proof of Work requires significantly more computation (electricity) which typically increases with blockchain usage.Firstly, a very quick introduction to Proof of Stake versus Proof of Work: There is plenty of information available online to those interested in diving deep into PoW and PoS consensus, however for the purposes of this article the focus will be on the higher level implications for the price of Ethereum. Rather than having electricity-intensive miners process transactions by solving a difficult mathematical problem, transactions are instead processed through the staking of Ether in specialized smart contracts. Proof of Stake (PoW) is an alternative to the Proof of Work (PoW) mechanism for achieving consensus on the ledger. There is however a fundamental change to the Ethereum protocol on the horizon that – in the build up to its launch – has the potential to usher in the next ravenous investment into the space. But yet here we are, Ethereum’s price is dipping to a low not seen in 5 months and a rapid recovery looks to be unlikely. Financial derivatives aside, the sheer volume of development in both onchain and offchain protocols over the past 4 years are well and truly creating the foundation for a new global economy. However, the idea that this recession will also last 3 years seems enormously unlikely the ecosystem has matured in myriad ways since 2014, with Bitcoin futures markets now trading in the US and an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) seemingly closer than ever. Those who endured the first major cryptocurrency crash will remember (if they were patient enough to stick it out) that it was not until 3 years later – almost to the day – that prices reached new all time highs. Ethereum appears to be entering what some are now calling a crypto-recession with prices reflecting a decline in onchain transactions (usage) that has not been seen since the Bitcoin bubble of January 2014.