Computer Graphics Card Prices Fall by Nearly 60% Following Ethereum Merge

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Jaroslaw Adamowski

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Jaroslaw Adamowski

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June 26, 2023

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The Ethereum Merge blockchain upgrade, which transformed the blockchain into a Proof-of-Stake consensus system, has triggered a steep, nearly 60% drop in the prices of graphics processing units (GPUs), with Chinese sellers reporting the gear’s prices have reached their “lowest level ever”.

Local sellers of GPUs which were once highly sought after by crypto miners, such as those using Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3080, RTX 3080 Ti, and RTX 3090, previously demanded as much as triple their recommended retail prices, The South China Morning Post reported.  

Those willing to buy an RTX 3080 in mainland China should be prepared to spend about RMB 5,000 ($700). Three months ago, the same gear would set them back around RMB 8,000 ($1,100), according to a local electronics merchant.

At the same time, the prices of consumer GPUs produced by major manufacturers such as Nvidia and AMD were also decreasing in the aftermath of China’s Bitcoin crackdown. Perhaps, this is related to a recent report which shows that Bitcoin’s mining revenue is approaching an all-time low.

In line with Beijing’s fight against online crypto trade, the Cyberspace Administration of China struck again last August, shutting down some 12,000 accounts. Some 51,000 posts were deleted, and 105 websites were pulled offline for allegedly hosting “cryptocurrency marketing” materials that included tutorials explaining how Chinese citizens can engage in cross-border transactions and advising Chinese readers on how to perform crypto mining in spite of the crackdown.

Despite the 2021 crackdown which was initiated by the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), crypto-focused discussions on popular Chinese social media platforms remain widely spread.