The crypto currencies Bitcoin and Ethereum are currently causing highs on the stock exchanges week after week. Good for the miners, the so-called prospectors, who can make good money from the rising prices. Experts are currently warning, however, that the increase in value can lead to a real “digging frenzy” which could worsen the shortage of PC components such as current graphics cards even more.
The hardware shortage was already clearly noticeable last year and experts are predicting a drought period again for 2021. The reasons given so far have been missing components, upgrading large companies or the corona pandemic. Another reason could now come in the form of cryptocurrencies. Because Bitcoin and Etherium are currently flying high on the stock exchanges. A “digging frenzy” could lead to more problems when purchasing graphics cards.
Cryptocurrencies are inexorably increasing in value
The cryptocurrency Bitcoin was relatively stable at $ 9,000 to $ 10,000 for the first nine months of 2020. Then in October the price skyrocketed. In December, the currency hit a price of $ 20,000. In the first few days of the new year 2021, the value of Bitcoin even climbed to $ 38,444.
The cryptocurrency Ethereum is also currently increasing in value. While the value of ETH was still below $ 200 at the beginning of 2020, the currency rose to $ 400 last August. In November, Ethereum was already at $ 600 before rising to over $ 1,000 last week.
Experts are already predicting that this enormous increase in value can lead to a new “digging frenzy”. In addition to the general shortage due to missing components and the corona pandemic, consumers then also have to compete with the miners, who are likely to be targeting graphics cards in particular.
This craze for mining should not only lead to bottlenecks, but also to rising prices for hardware. Such a price increase has already been observed in previous waves of scraping. In 2018, for example, gamers were already complaining about the increased prices due to mining. The miners then advised the players to dig themselves to offset the increased costs.