It is undeniable how a lot of people went crazy in 2017 over cryptocurrencies. Many invested their money on cryptos even without understanding the concept and technology behind the digital asset. Many are hoping that they end up becoming instant millionaires considering the volatility of cryptos. Bitcoin during the start of the year was just at around $1,000 only to end up at near $20,000 by mid-December of last year.
Now, for those who weren’t into investing directly on cryptocurrencies, there were those who opted to set up their own mining operations at home. But considering the fact that 2018 is quite bearish on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, profits also declined over the year.
$0 Profit for Ethereum Mining?
There was a report that you need to have a large-scale mining operation in order to at least squeeze some profits. Recently, there is an analysis revealed by Susquehanna that Ethereum mining for November is estimated at $0. Last summer, the profit was at around $150 per month.
To give you a background of how crypto mining goes, machines will have to run 24 hours a day and solve complex algorithms while competing with other computers trying to do the same.
The value of Ethereum has dropped by 70% this year. It was trading at $205 on Tuesday. There were also instances when Ethereum has been overtaken momentarily by Ripple as the second largest cryptocurrency based on market capitalization.
Given the cost of crypto mining equipment and the bearish market, Christopher Rolland who works as Susquehanna semiconductor analyst thinks that mining using a GPU by Nvidia is no longer profitable.
Hurting Nvidia Sales
Because of the fact that mining has decreased profitability over the last months, the company’s revenue has declined by roughly around $100 million quarter over quarter according to Rolland. He also said that Nvidia’s profit from crypto market is most “likely close to zero” in the third quarter. He said that “We estimate very little revenue from crypto-related GPU sales in the quarter, consistent with management’s prior commentary that they were including no contribution from crypto in their C3 Q18 outlook”. He also added that “3Q18 mining profitability continued to decline, as Ethereum prices have fallen more than -70% since the beginning of 2018”.
Things weren’t this way last year. Nvidia was able to become the beneficiary of the crypto boom in 2017. In February, Nvidia reported that the company’s stocks surged in the fourth quarter of last year even beating Wall Street expectations. But a few months ago, even NVIDIA thinks that mining is becoming less popular.
Why do people still continue mining? Many are anticipating the next bull run to happen. There are experts saying that the crypto market is about to bounce back in the coming months. There are those expecting fresh capital coming from institutional investors. There’s Bakkt and the possibility of having a Bitcoin ETF that is expected by many to bring in institutional investors. Could this be the case?
Bitcoin ETF applications were rejected a few months back. The reason was because of the possibility of price manipulation. So far, there’s the Bitcoin ETF application by Solid X and VanEck that has the strongest chance of getting approved.
