Can I mine Ethereum?

No. Since The Merge, Proof-of-work is no longer underlying Ethereum’s consensus mechanism, meaning mining has been switched off. Instead, Ethereum is secured by validators who stake ETH.

 

The Merge is the term used to describe Ethereum’s transition from a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus algorithm to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm. This change was made in order to make Ethereum more secure, efficient, and environmentally friendly. With PoS, validators are rewarded for staking their ETH tokens as collateral and verifying transactions on the blockchain. This process is much less power-intensive than PoW mining.