Want to mine cryptocurrency with your PC graphics card? Don’t bother. Following the Ethereum Merge, GPU-based mining for all cryptocurrencies is now largely unprofitable, at least for now.
On Thursday morning, Ethereum—one of the most lucrative mineable cryptocurrencies—finally phased out GPU-based mining, which will help cut down on its energy consumption. But the transition is bad news for crypto-miners who focus on Ethereum as their main profit source.
“(The Merge) killed it all off,” says one miner named Philip Robb. “All my stuff is idling now.”
Initially, many miners were hoping to switch to alternative cryptocurrencies, such as Ergo and Ravencoin, which can also be mined with PC graphics cards. But both currencies have so little value—mere dollars and pennies—that mining them is unprofitable compared to Ethereum, which is currently valued at around $1,500.
We tried mining Ravencoin using an Nvidia RTX 3080 graphics card today, but quickly realized it was a loss-making venture. According to the mining software, we’d only make between $0.13 to $0.26 a day, and that's before paying California’s high electricity costs, which would likely result in a net loss.
A miner named Blake Teeter tells PCMag he's facing the same situation, despite owning dozens of GPUs with far more mining muscle. “With my power cost, most coins appear unprofitable at this time,” he says.
Indeed, WhatToMine.com shows that GPU-based mining for any cryptocurrency is currently unprofitable if you do so from California. It only becomes a money-making venture with a few coins if you live in a state with low electricity costs. But even then, profitability is in the pennies, well under the several dollars you could make mining Ethereum in the months before the Merge, depending on your hardware setup.
The grim situation is causing some to declare that “GPU mining is dead." The non-existent profitability has prompted many in the mining community to turn off their rigs in an effort to save on electricity costs. Others are preparing to sell their idle PC graphics cards to buyers on Facebook and eBay. “No one is profitable at the moment,” says one miner, who preferred to keep his name private. “I'll start selling the equipment soon. I have around 50 GPUs.”
However, some miners are taking a wait-and-see approach on the possibility that GPU-mining could make a comeback one day. Blake Teeter says he only plans to sell his older-generation GPUs. “I am cleaning my rigs and watching the market until a few coins stand out to mine profitability wise,” he says. “I think GPU mining will still have a place in crypto mining at least for a few years.”
Others like Philip Robb point out crypto-mining is also like playing the stock market. It’s possible Ergo and Ravencoin could explode in value in the future, making it worthwhile to mine them now, even at a loss. “If you mine and hold, could be a lot more,” he says.
Still, many expect the mining community to start a huge GPU sell-off due to the loss in profitability. “A lot of people, even companies, are using loans for buying equipment,” says one miner from Bulgaria named Vasil Alyoshin, who’s also the co-founder of the Bonex cryptocurrency exchange. “Now it will be very cheap. No income from mining, they need to sell.”