Ethereum Drops 22% in Value Over the Past Week
It would be great for gamers if the tech shortage wasn't so bad
Ethereum has fallen in value by 22% over the past week, which will have a negative impact on miners' profits. A few days after the New Year, Ethereum prices were hovering around the $3,800 mark but have since fallen precipitously and are now down to just $3,070 at the time of writing.
To paint an even bleaker picture, for cryptocurrency miners at least, Ethereum's all-time high of $4,800 was reached early last November, and it's taken just two months to drop 38% in value. However, it's worth noting that the cryptocurrency and Forex markets traditionally slow down during the holiday season, so there's a possibility prices will start going up now that the holidays are over.
At present, GPU miners will have a far more difficult time turning a profit. While the valuation of Ethereum has dropped 22%, Ethereum difficulty continues to steadily ramp upward. The current gains (in USD) for mining Ethereum are now at the lowest they've been since January 1, 2021.
At present, miners can earn about $0.0468 USD per MH/s (on January 10, 2022). Back in November 2021, earnings were nearly double that at $0.0818 USD per MH/s. If you put that together with typical GPU hash rates, and combine that with the cost of power for running the mining calculations, net profits are now below $5 per day for an RTX 3090, and are close to $3 per day for an RTX 3080 LHR. We've put together approximate mining income per day for the latest Ampere and RDNA2 GPUs in the following table for reference.
GPU | Hashrate | Power | Net $/Day |
---|---|---|---|
RTX 3090 | 115 | 285 | $4.73 |
RTX 3080 Ti LHR | 77 | 220 | $3.10 |
RTX 3080 LHR | 66 | 215 | $2.59 |
RTX 3070 Ti LHR | 51 | 155 | $2.03 |
RTX 3070 LHR | 43 | 120 | $1.74 |
RTX 3060 Ti LHR | 42.5 | 114 | $1.73 |
RTX 3060 LHR | 34 | 110 | $1.34 |
RX 6900 XT | 64.5 | 183 | $2.60 |
RX 6800 XT | 64.5 | 186 | $2.59 |
RX 6800 | 64.5 | 166 | $2.64 |
RX 6700 XT | 47 | 120 | $1.93 |
RX 6600 XT | 32 | 75 | $1.33 |
RX 6600 | 28.5 | 75 | $1.16 |
With current prices, even with a mining farm full of RTX 3090 GPUs, you'd currently make less than $5 per day per card. With average eBay GPU prices on the RTX 3090 still sitting at $2,800 per card, it would take 560 days just to break even — never mind the cost of warehouse space. That's a massive drop from May of last year where profitability per RTX 3090 at one point eclipsed $20 per day and briefly reached as high as $32 per day!
While we've seen time and again that it's virtually impossible to predict where cryptocurrency prices and mining profitability will go next, if the current trends continue it can only help the supply of GPUs for the gaming market. Ethereum mining profits are the lowest they've been in over a year, and the switch to poof of stake is still looming in the future. Maybe miners will finally get off gamers' lawn. The chip shortages are still in a woeful state, however, and we don't expect cards to sit around on store shelves anytime soon, but at least there's some potential light at the end of this tunnel.
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Aaron Klotz is a contributing writer for Tom’s Hardware, covering news related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.
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-Fran- The 6800 mines better than the 3080... I don't know if I should be surprised or just laugh.Reply
Either way, that could explain why the 6800 is nowhere to be seen >_>
Regards. -
daworstplaya Here's the thing, what controls the percieved value of this funny money? There seems to be no logic behind any of it and gamers seem to the ones getting hurt by the greed of cryptominers.Reply -
Lafong daworstplaya said:Here's the thing, what controls the percieved value of this funny money? There seems to be no logic behind any of it and gamers seem to the ones getting hurt by the greed of cryptominers.
"Logic" has nothing to do with it.
I'd be happy to pay you 1000 US dollars for your T-shirt................................if I think I can sell it to this guy over here for 1100 US dollars.
Otherwise known as The Greater Fool theory.
Sooner or later the weak hands get exposed......you can't tell who is swimming naked until the tide goes out. -
daworstplaya Lafong said:"Logic" has nothing to do with it.
I'd be happy to pay you 1000 US dollars for your T-shirt................................if I think I can sell it to this guy over here for 1100 US dollars.
Otherwise known as The Greater Fool theory.
Sooner or later the weak hands get exposed......you can't tell who is swimming naked until the tide goes out.
Totally and it's the fools who pay at the end believing in the value, that pay the price when the rug gets pulled under them. :cautious: -
JarredWaltonGPU
That's the 3080 LHR, which is the only variant still in production supposedly. I still wonder how hard it is for AIBs to use a different firmware (that lacks the LHR lock) on the newer 3080 cards -- not to sell at retail, but for direct-to-miner sales, which are obviously still happening.-Fran- said:The 6800 mines better than the 3080... I don't know if I should be surprised or just laugh.
Either way, that could explain why the 6800 is nowhere to be seen >_>
Regards. -
jacob249358
Wdym exposed? You act like there is a crime being committed. And what does this quote even mean? weak hands? you must be from the US because you have failed to realize that cryptos are the next big thing. Xrp being the main one.Lafong said:
Sooner or later the weak hands get exposed......you can't tell who is swimming naked until the tide goes out. -
-Fran-
Ah, I see. That explains it then.JarredWaltonGPU said:That's the 3080 LHR, which is the only variant still in production supposedly. I still wonder how hard it is for AIBs to use a different firmware (that lacks the LHR lock) on the newer 3080 cards -- not to sell at retail, but for direct-to-miner sales, which are obviously still happening.
Regards. -
gargoylenest the more it goes, the more it looks like a Ponzi ... the one who started mining at the beginning are those who are rich today, those who just hopped the wagon will make peanuts or loose, but their presence gives value to the crypto, thus making those who started richer. You can say all you want that you are making this or that profit, but as long as it aint sold for real money, you have nothing. You could have been virtually millionaire last month on ethereum, but today you still have a few hundred thousands...but if it crashes for one of the many reason it can crash, then next month you will have nothing.Reply -
jacob249358
well the thing is each crypto is ponzi. What you have to do is find a newer one that hasn't peaked yet and invest in thatgargoylenest said:the more it goes, the more it looks like a Ponzi ... the one who started mining at the beginning are those who are rich today, those who just hopped the wagon will make peanuts or loose, but their presence gives value to the crypto, thus making those who started richer. You can say all you want that you are making this or that profit, but as long as it aint sold for real money, you have nothing. You could have been virtually millionaire last month on ethereum, but today you still have a few hundred thousands...but if it crashes for one of the many reason it can crash, then next month you will have nothing. -
gargoylenest
yes, that is one way to profit; but there is always the risk that a whale spotted the same crypto as you, and will sell it all before you, making it crash, thus making you poor again, and him richer. It is still a market where the filthy rich can control the market.jacob249358 said:well the thing is each crypto is ponzi. What you have to do is find a newer one that hasn't peaked yet and invest in that