Where Have All The GPU’s Gone? Cryptocurrency Mining!
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Over the last month, high-performance graphics cards have disappeared from retailer stock, selling out immediately as they appear. After a tentative start and tumultuous first few years, Bitcoin has emerged in as a legitimate contender for international money transfer. It is especially useful in markets like China and Russia, where governments would bitcoin asic vs gpu benchmarks to control remittances and citizens have overseas money to move.
Although a large volume of Bitcoin transactions remain speculative, it is carving out a useful niche. Bitcoin proved not only that a virtual currency could work, it also created a new industry: Each Bitcoin transaction is stored in a distributed ledger, with a vast network of computers constantly working to verify these transactions mathematically. The incredible increase in the value of Bitcoins has created a bitcoin asic vs gpu benchmarks industry for Bitcoin mining.
The SHA function used by Bitcoin for proof-of-work is adaptable to special-purpose hardware, and today it is impractical to mine with anything other than the specialty ASICs developed by companies like Bitmain. These ASICs have gotten so good that Bitcoin mining has followed cheap energy to the remote reaches of China, with hydro- and wind-power utilities filling rooms with AntMiner rigs.
This explosion of mining power has concentrated the Bitcoin network and made it impractical to mine elsewhere. Ethereum is the class act of the altcoin world, bringing novel innovations like smart contracts to the table. Ethereum was designed to use the massive computing power of mining for more practical purposes, though non-financial applications have not yet materialized.
All this has made Ethereum bitcoin asic vs gpu benchmarks darling for miners, driving the relative price ever upwards. Another very interesting altcoin is Zcash, the product of a cadre of smart industry veterans. Although still in its infancy, ZCash boasts the best privacy protections in the altcoin universe, with truly untraceable transactions. The value of ZCash has risen steadily since its October, introduction, and it has been adopted by many of the more-respectable elements of the cryptocurrency world.
Still, altcoin mining is on the rise. Another boon for casual miners is the creation of mining pools, which combine the efforts of many miners and share the resulting coins for a more predictable and attainable payout. Profits can be collected in an easy-to-use wallet or automatically converted to Bitcoin or even dollars. At bitcoin asic vs gpu benchmarks rate, payback is only a month or two away! Pretty much any PC will support one or more of these graphics cards, humming away in a basement or garage and generating quite a bit more than the cost of electricity.
Altcoin mining rigs must be springing up all over the world! Graphics card manufacturers should respond to this situation by creating special mining-oriented cards. We are seeing the emergence of a bitcoin asic vs gpu benchmarks computing category. The AntMiner S9, with nearly specialty ASICs, has made all other Bitcoin mining rigs bitcoin asic vs gpu benchmarks unprofitable The incredible increase in the value of Bitcoins has created a cottage industry for Bitcoin mining.
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