Ethereum miners are dumping their GPUs on eBay as cryptocurrency loses half its value...

[Shawn Knight]

Cryptocurrency mining at home has been a topic of interest among hardware enthusiasts for several years. The potential to generate “free money” by putting your PC to work is a side hustle that some simply can’t pass up and before you know it, you’re running multiple machines dedicated solely to crunching numbers.

If you can get in early and acquire the necessary hardware at a reasonable price, there’s a good chance that you’ll end up in the black (or perhaps at least break even on your investment). As we’ve seen with other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Litecoin, however, adding more miners to the overall equation will push the algorithmic difficulty to new heights.

At some point, mining at home no longer becomes viable as you’re spending more on electricity than you’re able to generate in coins. Mix in a sudden decline in coin values and you’ve got an environment that’s ripe for a mass exodus. That appears to be what’s taking place now.

Ethereum, the latest up-and-coming cryptocurrency to grip the market, has seen its value cut nearly in half since hitting an all-time high of just south of $400 about a month ago. With the mining rally seemingly over, some are taking to eBay to hock their GPUs.

While bad for mining enthusiasts that haven’t yet broken even, it is welcomed news for gamers as demand for GPUs to use in dedicated mining rigs has caused graphics cards to spike in cost in recent months.

As more miners drop out, the market will likely soon be flooded with cards and you’ll be able to pick something up at a great price. History always has a way of repeating itself.

A word of caution – if you’re eyeballing a used GPU from a mining rig, note that mining is extremely taxing on graphics cards. Running a card 24/7 at full tilt, especially without proper cooling, is a great way to significantly reduce the longevity of said card and / or its fans.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/70184-ethereum-miners-dumping-their-gpus-ebay-cryptocurrency-loses.html

 

[Kenrick]

Chuuu chuuu. Over-hyped bandwagon.

 

[dirtyferret]

Shocking its not a duplicate of the Bitcoin mining hysteria at all...

 

[Bassgeye]

The more crypto is used for the anonymous payment of ransom and other criminal deeds you will see countries begin to outlaw it's use. Once that happens you will see it die a super fast death.

 

[trparky]

I wonder if the cost of retail cards will drop as well. The retail prices are hideous.

 

[Puiu]

Chuuu chuuu. Over-hyped bandwagon.

you're just jealous that people made a ton of easy money and you didn't

On a more serious note, cryptocurrency is here to stay and a normal evolution of traditional currency, even if the technology is still in its infancy.

 

[SingularitE]

That's why it's called the mining craze. History repeats itself just like in 2014 with Litecoin when ASICs made the GPUs obsolete, only this time the change will be sudden with the update to proof of stake.

In the end there are some happy companies who made and sold videocards (and mainboards, PSUs, etc) with an amazing profit. Then there are some happy folks who mined or bought at the beginning and sold at high price for a little fortune.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

On a more serious note, cryptocurrency is here to stay and a normal evolution of traditional currency, even if the technology is still in its infancy.

Is it? Economics teaches us that if the supply of something is fixed and demand goes up, then the price would go up. But with crypto currencies the quantity (supply) is fixed, but the price is going down. that means the demand is going down. or simply - they're losing popularity. Granted - they've only lost popularity since June, so that's not much time.

Outside of sending money overseas without having to deal with exchange rates or crime. I don't see much use for them.

 

[Uncle Al]

One mans trash is another mans ............. bigger trash can?

 

[That Other Guy]

BA HA HA HA HA HA!

k, im done.

 

[Evernessince]

This is kind of old news. The dip was some time ago and it's on the rebound right now. You can see that reflected in the graph above. Those sellers will take the cards down again if it keeps increasing like it has the last few days.

 

[Draconian]

If they ARE dumping their GPUs, it's not showing up in eBay prices. A quick search for USED GTX 1070's shows Buy It Now prices of more than $400. At the high end, some used 1070's are going for $800.

 

[Greg S]

There is a bitcoin hard fork potentially two weeks from now and Ethereum had a nice jump in value today as well (18.5% and still going up).

While there are some dumping, many others are waiting for the bitcoin to do it's thing and re-stabilize the markets or allow Ethereum to become the new leader in terms of market cap.

So, for those looking to snatch up cards, you will either get your wish in two weeks or you will see the shortage remain just as bad as before.

 

[Puiu]

Is it? Economics teaches us that if the supply of something is fixed and demand goes up, then the price would go up. But with crypto currencies the quantity (supply) is fixed, but the price is going down. that means the demand is going down. or simply - they're losing popularity. Granted - they've only lost popularity since June, so that's not much time.

Outside of sending money overseas without having to deal with exchange rates or crime. I don't see much use for them.

The supply of cryptocurrencies is not exactly "fixed" because of how many of them are currently on the market (and how often new ones appear) and how mining is still relevant. The reason you see these fluctuations is because people are doing big short term investments. Once the very high volume transactions are over you'll see much more stable prices. And even then people will invest in new coins that could make them profit.
It will be a long time before we'll see proper stability, but that's normal. It's a niche product created using a technology that very few understand how it works and why it works.
As for it's uses, it's basically a private virtual wallet that you can keep online or on your personal computer/phone (yes, offline only - if your HDD burns so does your wallet). It's like a bank account without you having to even go close to a bank to create (although buying it online does involve you using your ID and personal information unless you contact someone in private - but that's a given). It's also not tied to any country which means you can use it anywhere in the world that accepts cryptocurrency payments.

 

[Phr3d]

It's basically an invented method of valuation that allows one to skip government tracking -- it's great if it serves your purpose and (Many,MANY) others agree to the valuation of the invented method..
else it's like the stock market and people jumping off of buildings when they Believe a bit more than is prudent.

meanwhile, us wretched remainders hafta' wait to buy a GPU upgrade unless we CAN'T, whaahh, boo hoo..

 

[Mister_K]

Shocking its not a duplicate of the Bitcoin mining hysteria at all...

It's not, it comes and goes, ups and downs. Ethereum could have potential however it has a **** name try-harding for a sci-fi dystopia.

 

[cartera]

On a more serious note, cryptocurrency is here to stay and a normal evolution of traditional currency, even if the technology is still in its infancy.

Is it? Economics teaches us that if the supply of something is fixed and demand goes up, then the price would go up. But with crypto currencies the quantity (supply) is fixed, but the price is going down. that means the demand is going down. or simply - they're losing popularity. Granted - they've only lost popularity since June, so that's not much time.

Outside of sending money overseas without having to deal with exchange rates or crime. I don't see much use for them.

I'm not an expert on this by any means but aren't global banks looking at the technology behind crypto-currencies. I agree that bitcoin , ethereum, etc. In their current form are not much use for the average joe but the big banks are looking at alterative uses for the technology.

 

[Puiu]

I'm not an expert on this by any means but aren't global banks looking at the technology behind crypto-currencies. I agree that bitcoin , ethereum, etc. In their current form are not much use for the average joe but the big banks are looking at alterative uses for the technology.

yes, banks are trying to leverage blockchain technology because the transactions are considered to be "tamper proof". it's also considered to be cheaper and easier to implement across multiple banks/countries.

 

[cartera]

yes, banks are trying to leverage blockchain technology because the transactions are considered to be "tamper proof". it's also considered to be cheaper and easier to implement across multiple banks/countries.

I Knew I had read that in a newspaper somewhere. Thanks for filling in the large amount of blanks I left

 

[p51d007]

The only difference between this, and the "gold mining boom" in the late 19th century in America, is the "miners" don't have to dig in the dirt and what not, the mining "camps" don't have bars, hookers, mules and what not. When the "strike" runs out, they die off.

 

[R00sT3R]

Good..lose money, you scum.

 

[cartera]

The only difference between this, and the "gold mining boom" in the late 19th century in America, is the "miners" don't have to dig in the dirt and what not, the mining "camps" don't have bars, hookers, mules and what not. When the "strike" runs out, they die off.

Business opportunity: crypto currency camps with bars, hookers, mules and what not.

 

[docbill]

I was so tempted to spend $3000 in June to build myself a mining rig. There are only two things that stopped me.
1. Almost all the video cards were out of stock.
2. My wife would never approve.

Still I found a few available at TigerDirect, and a few I could drive around to stores and buy, so I could have pulled the trigger. But as try as I might I could not come up with a convincing argument to give my wife, that I wouldn't feel excessively stupid giving... I finally concluded that was because it was an excessively stupid idea.

 

[Wizwill]

I'm probably old-fashioned but I have the view that there's no such thing as a free lunch except the one you steal from someone else. I've seen nothing in all I've read about any of the crypto Currencies to change these views

 

[captaincranky]

The only difference between this, and the "gold mining boom" in the late 19th century in America, is the "miners" don't have to dig in the dirt and what not, the mining "camps" don't have bars, hookers, mules and what not. When the "strike" runs out, they die off.

What were the mules for, in case the bars ran out of hookers?