GPU prices in China fall sharply after The Merge

GPU prices fall in China after Ethereum's switch to Proof-of-Stake.

In China, prices for graphics processing units (GPU), commonly used for Ethereum mining, fell sharply after the second-largest cryptocurrency switched to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS). пишет South China Morning Post.

One local retailer said that the cost of the RTX 3080 collapsed from 8,000 yuan ($1,116 at current rates) to 5,000 yuan ($698).

“When Bitcoin mining was at its peak, miners would simply walk into stores with cash and take all the graphics cards we had. And now look at the stores. No one is buying new computers because of the coronavirus, not to mention GPUs,” he explained.

Another market participant noted that inexpensive GPUs such as the RTX 3080 from Micro-Star International and Colorful had fallen by around 1,000-2,000 yuan ($139-$279) over two months. According to the interviewee, this was driven by the “hype around The Merge”.

“I had a client who bought an RTX 3080 for 9,400 yuan at the end of last year, and now he has to sell it for less than half of that price,” he said.

Demand was also weak on online platforms Taobao and JD. GPU prices fell by a few hundred yuan, according to the publication.

On 15 September 2022, Ethereum activated the The Merge update, which moved the blockchain to the PoS algorithm and reduced its energy consumption by 99%. The upgrade also laid the groundwork for the next phase of network development — The Surge.

Earlier, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin allowed the migration of Zcash and Dogecoin to the Proof-of-Stake algorithm.

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