Ethereum crash causes a sell-off of GPU mining equipment
The slump in ethereum's value has prompted small-scale miners to sell up, leading to a glut of graphics processing unit (GPU) equipment appearing on sites such as Gumtree and eBay. Where the recent shortage of GPUs available online had driven prices up, the influx of used units is likely to push the costs back down, until such time as another cryptocurrency takes ethereum’s place. These fluctuations are unlikely to stop within the foreseeable future.

Used GPUs flood the market as Ethereum's price crashes below $150

Will GPU prices be returning to normal soon?

| Source: Ethereum Price Author: Mark Campbell

Used GPUs flood the market as Ethereum's price crashes below $150

Over the past few months, there has been a GPU shortage, forcing the prices of mid-range graphics cards up as cryptocurrency miners from across the world purchased hardware in bulk in search for quick and easy profits.

This has forced the prices of most modern AMD and certain Nvidia GPUs to skyrocket, but now these GPUs are starting to saturate the used market as more and more Ethereum miners sell up and quit mining. Some other miners are starting to look at other emerging Cryptocurrencies, though it is clear that the hype behind Ethereum is dying down.

difficulty spike, making the currency 20% harder to mine and significantly less profitable. This combined with its decrease in value has made mining Ethereum unprofitable for many miners, especially in regions with higher than average electricity costs. Earlier this week Ethereum's value dropped below $200 , as soon as the currency experienced a new, making the currency 20% harder to mine and significantly less profitable. This combined with its decrease in value has made mining Ethereum unprofitable for many miners, especially in regions with higher than average electricity costs.



Now Ethereum is valued at less than $150, with the currency costing $134.97 at the time of writing, which is less than half of the currency's peak value. The currency has the potential to bounce back, though it is difficult to see the currency go back over £250 in the near future.

On second-hand sales websites like eBay and Gumtree, we have seen a lot of new GPU listing appear in recent days, with plenty of used AMD RX series GPUs appearing over the weekend. More hardware is expected to hit these sites over the coming days as some miners wind down their operations, though many will simply move to a more profitable currency or to invest their computing power into an emerging Cryptocurrency that has the prospect of high values in the future.

These developments will decrease demand for new GPUs from miners and will flood the used market with mining hardware, which should allow GPU pricing to return to normal levels in the near future. Sadly there remains the possibility for Ethereum to make some form of resurgence, or for another cryptocurrency to take its place.

In recent weeks websites like eBay and Gumtree have been relatively bare of GPUs, with this week seeing a huge uptick in the number of new AMD RX listings, though pricing is still sitting well above AMD's MSRP. It is worth noting that we see more GPUs listing appearing in the EU than the US, potentially due to differing electricity costs and other variables that affect the profitability of mining.

The sad fact of the matter is that this situation will likely happen again and again moving forward, with Bitcoin and Ethereum setting up an irritating trend for the gaming market. The drive for greater GPU efficiency will only make mining easier and newer, smarter cryptocurrencies will continue to be developed, which means that GPU-based mining will never truly die off in the foreseeable future.

You can join the discussion on Ethereum's declining price on the OC3D Forums.

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