Does anyone know of any new cryptocurrency project that uses PoW as its consensus mechanism? It seems to me that mineable coins are becoming extinct these days. We can blame the government for its false propaganda regarding the "high energy consumption" of PoW cryptocurrencies. Nowadays, 99% of new coins are centralized PoS. I'd be surprised if there's anything new on the market with PoW behind it.
Your input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

You can still profit from POW projects up to the present moment, but the future is uncertain. ETH has shown the ability to adapt its mechanism from 2020 until now to maintain its top position, so POS is indeed necessary because all recent development projects are utilizing POS mechanisms. However, they are continuously addressing the decentralization issue concerning token distribution. Of course, everything can be resolved; it's just that projects that previously used an inadequate tokenomics model will be left behind, serving as a lesson for future development projects.