There have been reports from multiple outlets stating that GPU mining might make a comeback. These primarily stem from a few recent announcements. Firstly, miners have been able to get around the LHR limitation on NVIDIA’s RTX 30 GPUs almost completely. Second, the Ethereum 2.0 merger to a “proof of stake” model has been delayed by another couple of months to the third quarter of 2022.
Although these fears are legitimate, there is very little chance of GPU mining making a comeback. For starters, the Ethereum mining difficulty is at an all-time high. For example, an RTX 3080 Ti (LHR) generates just over $2 a day which means you’ll be needing nearly 2 years to just break even, that is if you manage to buy a card at MSRP. And that’s for one of the best mining GPUs out there.
Secondly, GPU supply (and prices) from both NVIDIA and AMD is improving by leaps and bounds, so much so that analysts have degraded the chipmakers’ stock fearing another crypto-hangover due to excessive channel inventory.
Thirdly, as vendors brace for the launch of the next-gen GeForce RTX 4000 and Radeon RX 7000 GPUs, we’ll see even more SKUs hit the market. Chances are that these new graphics cards will come with anti-mining measures as well, further discouraging GPU mining. Overall, it looks like cryptomining won’t be making a comeback anytime soon.
