Computer Graphics Card Prices Fall by Nearly 60% Following Ethereum Merge
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 of their recommended retail prices, The South China Morning Post reported. This said, due to the latest ETH merge, the demand for powerful GPUs has rapidly fallen over the past months in the Chinese market.
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, 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 already decreasing in the aftermath of China’s bitcoin crackdown.
In a recent installment of Beijing’s combat against online crypto trade, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s internet censor 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, tutorials explaining how mainland Chinese citizens can engage in cross-border transactions in spite of the crackdown, and advising Chinese readers on how to perform crypto mining.
Despite the 2021 crackdown, initiated by the central People’s Bank of China (PBoC) which has called on Chinese companies to take measures against crypto-trading
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