The tug-of-war between crypto miners and gamers stems from a particular computer component – the graphics processing unit (GPU). What’s the story?
Over the years, cryptocurrency has taken the world by storm. Take for example Bitcoin, which started off trading at US$0.0008, is now worth US$40,158.30 today. No doubt, more investors turn to cryptocurrency with hopes to expand their wealth. Crypto miners see this as an opportunity to generate net revenue and go all out to mine crypto. According to Glassnode, a blockchain analytics firm, the daily revenue can reach as high as $50.78 million.
Miners use computers to solve complex mathematical problems to mine blocks and confirm transactions on the publicly distributed ledger in exchange for newly created bitcoins. This resulted in the need for GPUs to mine crypto. The type of GPU can affect the speed of production.
On the other hand, gamers need GPUs for rendering images, scenes, and animations, which are especially demanding for fast-paced games. A more powerful GPU allows gamers to play at higher resolutions, increase their game graphics settings, display more frames per second, and run the latest (graphically demanding) video games.
In the past, GPU manufacturers catered mainly to the gaming market. However, the demand for GPUs has soared as the number of crypto miners increased. There is a worldwide shortage of GPUs, which has led to the inflation of prices. Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 is an example of a premium GPU model that is scarcely available.
The massive demand for GeForce graphics cards was even the main reason for Nvidia’s first-quarter sales increase of 84% in 2021, exceeding both Wall Street and the company’s estimation.
While GPUs manufacturing companies are still handling the underproduction issue, gamers can consider turning to an energy-efficient solution that does not require GPUs – cloud gaming (e.g. Google Stadia). For more information regarding Google Stadia, you may want to check out my previous post.
Sources:
Forbes
Consumer News and Business Channel
Coindesk
Image Source:
Mobile Banking
My other blog posts:
How To Create A Deepfake Video In 3 Mins
Google Stadia in 3 Mins
Gamers Vs Crypto Miners
4 Examples of Singapore’s Smart Sustainability Efforts
Web 3.0
3 Types of Usability Testing
5 Ways Deepfakes Can Impact Your Life
Thank you Nicole, for this interesting and informative article. Fantastic.
Hello Samuel, thanks for the encouraging comment. I am glad you find it interesting. 🙂
World marketing trends have chances. Must update and move forward. Interesting.
Hello Freddy, yes, we need to innovate and move forward! Thanks for commenting 🙂
Thanks for the good write-up Nicole, the cloud is everywhere!
Hello Demet, thanks for the comment. Yes, the cloud is everywhere! Offices are even using virtual desktop these days!! 🙂
Short and on point – I like that!
Hey Bianca, thanks for commenting. This is a very useful comment for me to plan my next post! 🙂
Thank you for this exciting article, Nicole! I enjoyed reading it! 🙂
Thanks for commenting! I am glad you enjoyed it! 🙂