April 14, 2018

Bitcoin Mining Pressures Hardware Prices

Demand for computer components has skyrocketed with the surge of cryptocurrency mining, with prices more than doubling the past 12 months in some cases as suppliers are struggling to build enough capacity to meet the needs of the emerging market.

Prices of PC Components Skyrocket Due to bitcoin Mining

The cryptocurrency mining boom is taking the blame for the inflationary prices in the PC hardware industry. The exponential demand for processing power and memory needed to mine crypto hashes for cryptocurrency is not being followed by similar growth in industrial capacity to supply those items. As miners buy video cards and sticks of RAM in bulk to set up their mining rigs, retailers have a hard time getting them from suppliers such as Samsung, AMD, and NVIDIA.

Miners are demanding more powerful rigs that can include up to 500 graphics cards each which has created a worldwide shortage of the cards allowing manufacturers and retailers to gauge buyers on the price. Checking the price of the 5 most popular graphics cards from last year and comparing it with the updated version shows a general price increase of between 70 and 100%. Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1070 should cost around $380, but some cards are now being sold for more than $700 due to the massive shortages in the consumer GPU market.

This new demand for mining rigs has revitalized these electronic markets that were dying only a few years ago when shoppers turned online for computers, cameras, and gadgets of all kinds. To meet the newfound demand, AMD and Samsung have developed mining boards that use ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) to run advances hashing algorithms, but these items are yet to become competitive in price and quality. For now, it’s more profitable to buy graphics cards in bulk.

ASIC based miners have custom components built only for the purpose of bitcoin mining. These devices have enormous processing power, generating a huge hash rate for effective mining. However, not everyone can set up a server and install ASICs. Individuals who use GPUs currently available in the market are able to mine cryptocurrency but they can’t expect to make many profits.

Image Courtesy of Shutterstock

Published at Sat, 14 Apr 2018 21:44:18 +0000

Industry

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December 18, 2017

Bitcoin on the Agenda for Iranian Lawmakers

bitcoin is about to be put under scrutiny by legislators in Iran. Majlis Economic Commission are set to discuss the planet’s most popular cryptocurrency and how they will treat it moving forward. The meeting will comprise of representatives from different sectors of government and banking. The Financial Tribune, a domestic newspaper, reported earlier that the head of the commission told ICANA, the Iranian news portal for parliament:

It has been decided to hold a meeting with the officials of the Central Bank of Iran, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance and the Securities and Exchange Organization on bitcoin next week.

According to the Financial Tribune, Mohammad Reza Pour-Ebrahimi sounded pessimistic about cryptocurrency. He reportedly said that bitcoin and other digital currencies were not in line with the nation’s religious beliefs and therefore caution must be exercised:

“Deals and transactions made through bitcoin are in no way in accordance with Islamic and economic fundamentals, therefore related entities, especially the central bank, must exert the necessary supervision over these deals.”

Previously, the Central Bank of Iran’s deputy for innovative tech had urged those involved with the space to operate using extreme vigilance. Last month, Nasser Hakimi outlined the CBI’s goal of having a legislative framework for cryptocurrencies drawn up by March of 2019 and proceeded to warn those involved with any other medium of exchange other than the countries own currency:

“Because bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have not been introduced by the CBI as official currencies and in light of the high risk and speculative activities associated with purchasing them, we ask investors and the public to enter this field with increased caution because they could lose their money.”

The latest development from the Middle-Eastern state may come as a surprise to regular readers of NewsBTC. We reported earlier this year that Iran seemed to be preparing a suitable infrastructure which would allow for greater adoption of cryptocurrency. This was presumed to be an effort to dodge financial sanctions that the likes of the US have placed on the nation. Being as Iran largely exists outside of global banking networks, it seemed that digital currency could provide a useful avenue for trade that doesn’t require the permission of other State-level and supranational actors. However, judging by the statement today, the mood in Tehran has since soured towards bitcoin and the rest of the crypto space.

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