The Ethereum transition to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) algorithm provoked a drop in prices for graphics processors (GPUs) in China – their sales reached the lowest level in history.
Low demand from Chinese miners who previously bought expensive graphics cards, such as Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080, RTX 3080 Ti or RTX 3090, forced suppliers to cut GPU prices three times.
The seller from Shanghai Peng reported that the most expensive GPUs in the last three months have fallen in price by more than 37% – from 8,000 yuan ($1,140) to 5,000 yuan ($712). According to him, the decline in demand and prices for video cards is due to the fall of the cryptocurrency market, the ban on mining in China and new restrictions due to COVID-19.
"When the wave of bitcoin mining was at its peak, miners bought up all the graphics cards that we had in the store for cash. Now almost no one is buying new computers and video cards because of the coronavirus," Peng said.
His colleague Liu confirmed that the Ethereum merge was the "trigger" for the collapse of GPU prices. According to him, in the last two months, even the most inexpensive graphics cards for mining have fallen in price by more than 50%, including in the secondary market.
"I had a client who bought an RTX 3080 graphics card for 9,400 yuan ($1,320) at the end of last year, and now he has to sell it for less than half that price," he added.
A large Shanghai electronics retailer BuyNow, as a result of the correction of the graphics card market and the crisis in the cryptocurrency market, reduced the recommended retail price for GPUs by more than 33%.
