In the last two years, the graphics card has become a PC component whose prices have skyrocketed and the stock is hard to find in the market. One of the reasons is -- apart from the scarcity of chips -- because they were bought up by crypto miners, Ethereum to be precise.
According to a recent report from Bloomberg, Ethereum miners spent at least USD 15 billion on graphics cards over the past 18 months.
This is money spent only on the graphics card, not including the CPU, motherboard, power supply, and other components needed to mine crypto, as well as the electricity costs for mining.
This data comes from Bitpro Consulting, a company that specializes in buying and recycling crypto mining tools.
At the end of 2020, many cryptocurrencies experienced a drastic increase in exchange rates. This is what then triggers Ethereum miners to buy graphics cards, of course, to increase their mining results.
Plus, at the same time AMD and Nvidia also launched their latest graphics chips. These chips have a significant performance increase compared to their predecessors, which makes the graphics card the target of not only gamers but also crypto miners.
This then makes the ratio of demand and supply become unbalanced. Not to mention the behavior of hoarders of graphics cards which makes their scarcity even worse.
Based on data from Jon Peddie Research, the average price of a graphics card, which in 2019 was only USD 400, shot up to almost USD 800 in 2021.
However, now the fate of the miners is unclear for two reasons. First, the Ethereum exchange rate has slumped 80% since reaching its highest point in 2021. The Bloomberg report states that there are miners who only make USD 5000 from their equipment investment which reaches USD 30 thousand.
The second thing is Ethereum's plan to change its model to proof-of-stake, where miners who use graphics cards can no longer mine the currency. The changes are planned to take place in August, but may be postponed.