Since the Ethereum merge, ETH lost 24% of its value and continues moving alongside a very apparent bearish trend. We have heard mostly negative news about the current situation in the crypto industry. It is not the best time for crypto enthusiasts, but it is certainly a good moment for people who wanted to get their hands on a powerful gaming GPU. During the mining craze in 2021, shortages were reported in all countries.

Ethereum’s switch to proof-of-stake was necessary

Vitalik Buterin stated that the switch was necessary to cut down energy consumption and reduce the environmental impact, but also to bolster the network’s ability to provide scalability and utility to users and app builders. For the industry, the existence of a PoW and PoS networks that compete against each other is also great because users will have a choice.

On the other hand, thousands of miners who used to generate revenue by mining ETH are now out of work considering the low profitability of competing networks like RavenCoin and ERGO. Some adventurous miners decided to buy more PC parts and build gaming rigs to sell at a small profit. However, the vast majority of miners simply dumped their stock on the second-hand market creating an increase in an offer that drives prices down.

Over the last three months, prices and demand for the top echelon of GPUs like GeForce RTX 3080 and 3090 have been going in a very distinct downward direction with prices falling by 40%. Some merchants in China are talking about the lack of demand for new PCs in general due to the ongoing battle of the Chinese Government against the COVID-19 pandemic. Many say that they had to reduce prices below the recommended to move product.

The second-hand market is thriving like never before

Millions of gamers can rejoice and finally receive their GPUs even if they are used and won’t perform as well as new ones. There is no reason for many gamers to hunt down new RTX cards when there is a large number of them on reselling platforms in China.