• Tinidril@midwest.social
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    2 days ago

    Profitability of Bitcoin mining is dependent on the value of Bitcoin, which has more than doubled in the last 12 months. It’s true that large scale miners have moved on from GPUs to purpose designed hardware, but GPUs and mining hardware are mutually dependent on a lot of the same limited resources, including FABs.

    You are right that crypto doesn’t drive the GPU market like it used to in the crypto boom, but I think you are underestimating the lingering impact. I would also not rule out a massive Bitcoin spike driven by actions of the Trump.p administration.

    • Taldan@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Profitability of Bitcoin mining is dependent on the value of Bitcoin

      No it isn’t. It’s driven by the supply of miners and demand of transactions. Value of bitcoin is almost entirely independent

      ASICs, which are used to mine Bitcoin are using very different chips than modern GPUs. Ethereum is the one that affected the GPU market, and mining is no longer a thing for Ethereum

      A massive Bitcoin spike would not affect the GPU market in any appreciable way

      Crypto mining is pretty dumb, but misinformation helps no one

      • Tinidril@midwest.social
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        1 day ago

        ASICs and GPUs do share significant dependencies in the semiconductor supply chain. Building FABS fast enough to keep up with demand is difficult and resource constrained, both by expertise and high quality materials.

        You are wrong about the market value of Bitcoin’s impact on the profitability of Bitcoin mining.

        https://www.investopedia.com/articles/forex/051115/bitcoin-mining-still-profitable.asp

        Another thing to consider is that many coins still use proof of work, and an ASIC designed for one might not work for others. Some miners (especially the most scammy ones) choose the flexibility to switch coins at will. That doesn’t change the fact that ASIC now dominates, but GPUs do still have a share, especially for some of the newer scam coins.