The US overtakes China for the first time to become the global crypto mining leader

[midian182]

What just happened? For the first time, the US has surpassed China to become the global crypto mining leader. It follows months of cryptocurrency clampdowns by the Asian nation, which has led to miners and mining companies moving to more welcoming locations.

Despite the Chinese government's obvious dislike of crypto, the country has long been responsible for the majority of the global bitcoin hash rate—partly because of its cheaper electricity—taking a 75% share in September 2019. But this year has seen China push down harder on the industry than ever before: a big crackdown back in May resulted in miners closing down their businesses; authorities started shutting down more operations in June; and China recently declared all crypto transactions illegal.

According to figures published by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, the new crackdowns have seen China's share drop by 60% in just a few months. Now, it stands at zero.

Image credit: Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance

China's loss is other countries' gain. The US share of the global BTC hash rash jumped from 17% in April to a world-leading 35.4% share in July. Second-place Kazakhstan went from 8% to 18%, while third-place Russia is on 11% after being at 6.8% three months earlier. Canada is fourth with a 9.6% share, having been on just 3% in April.

"The whole narrative of China controls bitcoin is now completely destroyed," Boaz Sobrado, a London-based fintech data analyst, told CNBC.

The migration of crypto miners from China has resulted in increased power demands for the countries taking them in. A single Bitcoin transaction, including the resources needed to mine the coin and to verify the transaction, can total upwards of 1,700 kilowatt hours (kWh). One mining company bought a Pennsylvania power plant that produces enough power for 1,800 Bitcoin miners, with output increases planned to support more than 20,000 miners by 2022.

In other crypto news, Intel this week confirmed that its first Arc graphics card series, Alchemist, would have no Nvidia LHR-style mining limiter. We also heard that new software is able to circumvent team green's limiter by dual mining crypto.

The rising interest in mining and increasing coin values are impacting graphics card prices and availability, though Nvidia is still rumored to be releasing more products in January, which seems strange considering people can't even find or afford its current offerings. But it's expected that Ethereum's move from a proof-of-work (PoW) model to proof-of-stake (PoS) will help ameliorate the situation.

Image credit: TimeShops

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https://www.techspot.com/news/91745-us-overtakes-china-first-time-become-global-crypto.html

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Almost 13,000 cryptocurrencies and not a single dime of intrinsic value.

Every bubble eventually finds a pin.

 

[elementalSG]

China’s loss is the US’ gain

 

[stewi0001]

US is too greedy to ban crypto

 

[Dimitriid]

Hey everybody can become rich now: Just tune in to Texas weather response news and weather info: dump everything before any major weather events hit if you can and/or in the middle of their week long rolling blackouts buy the dip.

 

[Dimitriid]

US is too greedy to ban crypto

Yes but it goes far beyond just "greed" when Neoliberal Capitalism is basically a "Greed is good" centered ideology and the more greed the better. People mistakenly assume the competing political parties differ in their core ideology but they don't really: Transforming market solutions for social issues into debt vs pretending social issues don't exists and/or transform social issues into really cheap jail labor aren't really conflicting ideologies at the heart of it.

 

[Burty117]

Every bubble eventually finds a pin.

You've been saying that for literally years now.

 

[Hysc84]

Did it mean to be self praise ?

 

[Squid Surprise]

Almost 13,000 cryptocurrencies and not a single dime of intrinsic value.

Every bubble eventually finds a pin.

I'd argue that the US Dollar will probably "burst" before Crypto Currencies do...

No currencies have any intrinsic value - they all operate on the BELIEF that they can be exchanged for goods and services. If enough people believe it, it becomes truth.

That Bitcoin is around $50,000 right now shows that belief in crypto is high...

 

[wiyosaya]

I'd argue that the US Dollar will probably "burst" before Crypto Currencies do...

No currencies have any intrinsic value - they all operate on the BELIEF that they can be exchanged for goods and services. If enough people believe it, it becomes truth.

That Bitcoin is around $50,000 right now shows that belief in crypto is high...

Belief has a tendency to falter when its needed most. At some point, something will happen similar in nature to the housing crises, and when that does, expect the crapto to hit the fan.

The US dollar is backed by the US Government. Crapto is not.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Belief has a tendency to falter when its needed most. At some point, something will happen similar in nature to the housing crises, and when that does, expect the crapto to hit the fan.

And I'd see that as just as likely happening to any national currency...

 

[wiyosaya]

And I'd see that as just as likely happening to any national currency...

Like I said in my edit, the US Dollar is backed by the US Government. Crapto is not backed by anything other than the masses seeking to make a quick buck. Despite actions from last January, the US Government is far more stable than most other world governments.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Like I said in my edit, the US Dollar is backed by the US Government. Crapto is not backed by anything other than the masses seeking to make a quick buck. Despite actions from last January, the US Government is far more stable than most other world governments.

Crypto is backed by actual machines... Every nation on Earth, on the other hand, has eventually fallen and been replaced by another... while I don't expect that to happen any time soon in the US, it is inevitable that one day it will collapse (as will every other nation eventually - not singling the US out).

While Crypto might not last forever, I don't see it as having any less "staying power" than any other currency.

 

[emmzo]

China has a deep energy crisis. The last thing it needed was a big chunk of that going into mining vapor money. I believe that was one of the reasons that led to outright banning. US, on the other hand, doesn`t really care until a total collapse and then ... they double down.

 

[Superconductor]

I'd argue that the US Dollar will probably "burst" before Crypto Currencies do...

No currencies have any intrinsic value - they all operate on the BELIEF that they can be exchanged for goods and services. If enough people believe it, it becomes truth.

That Bitcoin is around $50,000 right now shows that belief in crypto is high...

Hey! Get back to us when you hit 80 years old and let us know how the US Dollar is doing...

 

[Neatfeatguy]

Got a guy that crypto farms a lot on a tech site I visit. He said about a year ago he acquired a bunch of 5700 cards (as you can see in one of his quotes below). He also says that there are millions of GPUs out there at massive crypto farms and cards are being intercepted by the thousands before they reach distributors. Below are some quotes from him about what he says he knows and about his current experience with mining



"I was lucky enough to predict an worsening in GPU supply this yearand ordered a pallet of 5700 reference cards in January direct from a Taiwanese distributor. My only regret is not ordering 20 pallets. As overpriced as they were, I'd have paid less than half the current market value."


"The vanilla 6600 might be the single most efficient ETH mining card on the market right now, with reports of 30MH/s at 50W

The 6600XT at 32MH/s at 55-60W was already pretty damn desirable.

I'm running a farm of 24x RX5700 with 56MH/s at 130W per card, and those are really good mining cards that sell for almost $1000. From a pure efficiency standpoint, a vanilla 6600 is 40% better. There are downsides in that you use more cards in total which requires more overhead in management and more motherboards/mining rigs but overall I think these are worth it for the efficiency tradeoff."



"I wish! Small time hobby miners who are just getting their feet wet to see what the mining fuss is all about use way more cards than they would as a gamer or regular PC enthusiast, but we're still buying cards at retail and paying the same price as everyone else.

The real problem are the huge mining farms in China and Russia that intercept cards by the thousand before they even reach distributors. I'm in a mining pool with my paltry 1.3GH/s and there are several people in that pool with ~5TH/s each (so 90,000 cards each). This is just one mining pool, and there are at least 6 large mining pools. I am not exaggerating when I say that there are tens of millions of cards mining ETH right now - Ethereum's total network hashrate is closing in on 1 PetaHash/second. That's the equivalent of 33 million RX 6600 cards mining ETH at any one time.

Gamers are screwed, and I'm saying that as an avid gamer."

 

[Squid Surprise]

Hey! Get back to us when you hit 80 years old and let us know how the US Dollar is doing...

I'm certainly hopeful it will be doing fine... but I'm also fairly certain that crypto will be doing just as well - or better...

Got a guy that crypto farms a lot on a tech site I visit. He said about a year ago he acquired a bunch of 5700 cards (as you can see in one of his quotes below). He also says that there are millions of GPUs out there at massive crypto farms and cards are being intercepted by the thousands before they reach distributors. Below are some quotes from him about what he says he knows and about his current experience with mining



"I was lucky enough to predict an worsening in GPU supply this yearand ordered a pallet of 5700 reference cards in January direct from a Taiwanese distributor. My only regret is not ordering 20 pallets. As overpriced as they were, I'd have paid less than half the current market value."


"The vanilla 6600 might be the single most efficient ETH mining card on the market right now, with reports of 30MH/s at 50W

The 6600XT at 32MH/s at 55-60W was already pretty damn desirable.

I'm running a farm of 24x RX5700 with 56MH/s at 130W per card, and those are really good mining cards that sell for almost $1000. From a pure efficiency standpoint, a vanilla 6600 is 40% better. There are downsides in that you use more cards in total which requires more overhead in management and more motherboards/mining rigs but overall I think these are worth it for the efficiency tradeoff."



"I wish! Small time hobby miners who are just getting their feet wet to see what the mining fuss is all about use way more cards than they would as a gamer or regular PC enthusiast, but we're still buying cards at retail and paying the same price as everyone else.

The real problem are the huge mining farms in China and Russia that intercept cards by the thousand before they even reach distributors. I'm in a mining pool with my paltry 1.3GH/s and there are several people in that pool with ~5TH/s each (so 90,000 cards each). This is just one mining pool, and there are at least 6 large mining pools. I am not exaggerating when I say that there are tens of millions of cards mining ETH right now - Ethereum's total network hashrate is closing in on 1 PetaHash/second. That's the equivalent of 33 million RX 6600 cards mining ETH at any one time.

Gamers are screwed, and I'm saying that as an avid gamer."

Not sure this means Gamers are screwed - once supply is back to normal, there will be plenty of cards for everyone. Nvidia and AMD will keep churning out as many as they can make - mining rigs actually spur them to create even more cards... guaranteed sales are awesome for any company...

 

[umbala]

I'd argue that the US Dollar will probably "burst" before Crypto Currencies do...

No currencies have any intrinsic value - they all operate on the BELIEF that they can be exchanged for goods and services. If enough people believe it, it becomes truth.

That Bitcoin is around $50,000 right now shows that belief in crypto is high...

This is an absurd argument. Using your logic we could just say that nothing has value, you just BELIEVE it does. In fact, reality as you know it doesn't exist. It's just a collection of electrical impulses in the brain to make you BELIEVE you're hearing, seeing, and experiencing things around you.

If crypto is so great and "real" currency has no meaning, then why does your precious crypto always rely on ANOTHER currency to decide its value? Can you explain where crypto's value comes from? Believing something has value does not give it intrinsic value. Crypto's value comes from the idea that an even bigger idi0t than you will come along and buy it for a higher value. Basically it's a Ponzi/pyramid scheme, nothing more.

The problem is that in a scheme like this only a very small number of people can cash out and get rich, the rest get screwed. If even 1% of the crypto investors all tried to cash out tomorrow the whole house of cards would collapse.

 

[umbala]

China has a deep energy crisis. The last thing it needed was a big chunk of that going into mining vapor money. I believe that was one of the reasons that led to outright banning. US, on the other hand, doesn`t really care until a total collapse and then ... they double down.

The US will never ban crypto for the same reason they will never ban guns, cigarettes, and a million other things that kill you or pollute the planet. Greed and profit is the most important thing above all else. The US is basically the epicenter of global greed. As long as profit can be made from it, they will allow it.

 

[Squid Surprise]

This is an absurd argument. Using your logic we could just say that nothing has value, you just BELIEVE it does. In fact, reality as you know it doesn't exist. It's just a collection of electrical impulses in the brain to make you BELIEVE you're hearing, seeing, and experiencing things around you.

If crypto is so great and "real" currency has no meaning, then why does your precious crypto always rely on ANOTHER currency to decide its value? Can you explain where crypto's value comes from? Believing something has value does not give it intrinsic value. Crypto's value comes from the idea that an even bigger idi0t than you will come along and buy it for a higher value. Basically it's a Ponzi/pyramid scheme, nothing more.

The problem is that in a scheme like this only a very small number of people can cash out and get rich, the rest get screwed. If even 1% of the crypto investors all tried to cash out tomorrow the whole house of cards would collapse.

Perhaps you need to take an economics class... maybe 2 - you might want to master it

Currency is simply a medium of exchange for goods and services. No more, no less.

Can you exchange US Dollars for goods and services? Yes you can... go to any store in the US and you can exchange your US Dollars for groceries, toys, etc...

Can you exchange Bitcoin for goods and services? Yes you can... go online to various places (or the entire country of El Salvador) and exchange your bitcoins (or other crypto currencies) for various "stuff".

Back before "civilization", you bartered instead... I could trade my milk for your corn, wheat for your pork, etc... according to your definition of "real", I suppose that is the only "real" currency around. Well, it would be pretty hard for me to trade a cow for an iPad straight up - even if they are "worth" about the same. But feel free going to the Apple Store with your heifer and see what you can get...

 

[QuantumPhysics]

I'd argue that the US Dollar will probably "burst" before Crypto Currencies do...

No currencies have any intrinsic value - they all operate on the BELIEF that they can be exchanged for goods and services. If enough people believe it, it becomes truth.

That Bitcoin is around $50,000 right now shows that belief in crypto is high...

Bubbles can grow.
But they eventually pop.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Bubbles can grow.
But they eventually pop.

EVERYTHING comes to an end one day... it's called entropy... but there is 0 evidence to suggest that crypto will "pop" any time sooner than any other currency... I welcome you to present some though...

 

[QuantumPhysics]

EVERYTHING comes to an end one day... it's called entropy... but there is 0 evidence to suggest that crypto will "pop" any time sooner than any other currency... I welcome you to present some though...

There's only 0 evidence if you are either not looking for it - or ignoring it.

When the "investors" lose their shirts you'll see.

 

[NightAntilli]

Almost 13,000 cryptocurrencies and not a single dime of intrinsic value.

Every bubble eventually finds a pin.

You're like the ones arguing that flying is impossible during the time of the Wright Brothers.

In any case... Just one question. Is an 8% interest on your stable coins of no value, compared to <1% in banks?

The market dictates value.

 

[elementalSG]

There's only 0 evidence if you are either not looking for it - or ignoring it.

When the "investors" lose their shirts you'll see.

How about you are only allowed to say crypto investors have lost their shirts AFTER it actually happens?

In the meantime, do yourself a favor and use that RTX 3090 you keep bragging all over Techspot about, mine some Ethereum for yourself and stop being so bitter about obviously being someone who completely missed the crypto rally