An update to the currency “Ethereum” means that powerful graphics cards will soon become irrelevant. How do players benefit from this transition?
This is what it’s about: The cryptocurrency “Ethereum” will receive an update during the year leading up to 2022 that will change the mining process (via Techradar.com).
How does it work currently? Until now, what mattered in Ethereum was who spends how much power mining cryptocurrencies. Those with the most computational power in a network have the advantage (Proof of Work).
What is changing? Ethereum 2.0 relies on a new system. Here, what matters is how much value people have locked in the network (Proof of Stake).
Simply put, users will then invest in so-called coins rather than in powerful hardware. They do not receive rewards for being particularly fast, but for the number of coins they own. So you will gain returns from your currency.
Mining, in the traditional sense, will no longer take place, as it is not about high computational power anymore. Instead, one invests in the cryptocurrency.
These are digital currencies traded online. They are anonymous and usually decentralized. The so-called blockchain technology is considered secure. The downside is that the currency’s value can fluctuate extremely.
Currently, there are more than 4,500 different currencies, but the most important are Bitcoin and Ether (via wikipedia.de).
Ethereum transition impacts the graphics card market
What does this mean for me as a gamer? In the old system, it was relevant to have a lot of power to be faster than the competition. With greater power, one can solve the cryptographic puzzle faster than others.
In the new system, this excess power is no longer necessary, and powerful graphics cards are expected to play no significant role in the mining of the cryptocurrency Ethereum. Instead, what matters is how much currency you own.
Who says this? The head of the analysis firm “Jon Peddie Research,” Jon Peddie, explains in an interview that it is not a good idea to invest in a powerful graphics card if one wants to mine. He says:
Ethereum, the most suitable currency for GPUs, will very soon change to version 2.0, thus making GPUs obsolete. Anyone would be very foolish to invest in a high-end, power-consuming graphics card for crypto mining today.
Jon Peddie, President of Jon Peddie Research, via Jonpeddie.com
Jon Peddie Research is a company from California that has been active in the multimedia sector for around 30 years.
When will this transition take place? The transition of Ethereum will take at least until 2022, and this only if there are no incidents.
If you hoped that miners would find the graphics card market uninteresting by summer, you will likely be disappointed. However, the transition is expected to have a long-term impact on the market.
Are you currently waiting for graphics cards or considering buying one? Then let us know how much money you would spend on a graphics card:
It is also interesting that manufacturers like AMD and Nvidia are preparing graphics cards for mining.
AMD and Nvidia are preparing special graphics cards for mining
Here’s the situation with Nvidia: Nvidia has already issued an official statement that it intends to produce mining graphics cards.
For this reason, it had made the RTX 3060 worse for miners. Instead, Nvidia wants miners to buy the new graphics cards, as with CMP, Nvidia has introduced a graphics processor series aimed at professional miners. CMP stands for “Cryptocurrency Mining Processor. “
What about AMD? There is currently no official announcement from AMD regarding such a mining graphics card.
However, there is speculation that a mining graphics card from AMD could be coming. Given the current boom in cryptocurrencies, this decision would not be surprising.
In China, there has been ongoing discussion about a mining ban on bitcoins. One reason for the ban is issues such as pollution and energy consumption. Therefore, some users in the East have also switched to mining Ethereum.
