Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake delay may hurt GPU prices

The Ethereum blockchain is considered one of the main culprits behind the recent state of the GPU market. Generally speaking, GPU prices increase when Ethereum's value increases. However, moving the blockchain from a Proof-of-Work (mining) to Proof-of-Stake (staking) should end the influence over the market. Unfortunately, the switch to proof-of-stake has been delayed once again, which could have a negative impact. 

People have been referring to moving from one system to the other as “The Merge”. This move, which was first slated for 2019, has been delayed multiple times, and it seems it has been once again. The last date announced for “The Merge” was somewhere in June, but the date has been pushed to a “few months after”, according to Tim Beiko (via CoinDesk), a core developer of the Ethereum blockchain.

Appreciate the reply. Still looking like June for the plug pull or will the mining community have some more time?

— JRock (@TripleSack) April 12, 2022

Delaying for a few months should affect how the Ethereum price will evolve. Depending on that, miners may find it worth investing in more graphics cards to get the last pieces of tokens from the network, especially now that GPU prices are nearing MSRP. However, Beiko believes it's not worth buying more mining gear as things are. Whether miners will agree with him on that is a different story.

A quick look at WhatToMine and Minerstat GPU profitability tables and simple math show that to recoup the costs of an RTX 3080, which has one of the fastest ROIs, you would have to mine 24/7 for over a year. However, that's based on Ethereum's current price. If the price increases dramatically, the time to recoup the costs would also reduce significantly.

KitGuru says: Do you think delaying “the merge” will affect the GPU market, or will pricing maintain its downward trend? 

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