Bitcoin Price Surges to 18-Month High but GPU Mining Remains Unprofitable
Bitcoin Price Surges to 18-Month High but GPU Mining Remains Unprofitable
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Bitcoin Price Surges to 18-Month High but GPU Mining Remains Unprofitable
Since early October, Bitcoin has been steadily approaching prices reminiscent of the cryptocurrency’s pre-crypto-winter levels.
While it hasn’t reached the peaks seen in 2021 and 2022, the recent resurgence that began in late January appears to be gaining momentum, driven in part by positive speculation about U.S. regulation.
This week, Bitcoin briefly touched the $35,000 mark, possibly due to reports suggesting that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) might approve exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tied to cryptocurrencies.
The current price represents the highest point for Bitcoin since the historic crash in the spring of the previous year, which marked the beginning of the so-called crypto winter, with a nearly 10% increase in just one day.
ETFs allow investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin through the stock market without needing to hold the cryptocurrency directly, potentially reigniting interest among investors. In August of this year, a U.S. court ruled against Grayscale Investments’ Bitcoin ETF application, a decision that fueled market speculation. Reports indicate that regulators are not planning to appeal this decision, which may lead to a swift approval of this ETF—the first of its kind related to Bitcoin outside the futures market. It is expected that numerous major U.S. investment firms, including BlackRock, will apply for Bitcoin ETFs.
The recent upward trend has propelled hopes for the end of the crypto winter and a revival of cryptocurrencies in 2023 to new heights. Bitcoin reached nearly $67,000 in November 2021, but its most sustained decline began in May of the following year when TerraUSD and Luna collapsed, dragging down the entire cryptocurrency market and causing losses of nearly $1 trillion.
More severe losses occurred when the FTX exchange collapsed in November of the same year due to a federal investigation, leading to ongoing legal proceedings against its founder. By the end of January, Bitcoin’s price had rebounded from the FTX crash and continued to rise steadily.
In August, concerns over the decline of trading volume at major exchange Coinbase threatened the hopes of a Bitcoin recovery. However, the market in October seemed to have erased this impact. Predictions for the future of cryptocurrencies range from catastrophic declines to victorious explosions, with Bitcoin’s price fluctuating from $5,000 to $200,000.
Despite the ongoing optimism in the market, PC users may not have to worry about the impact of cryptocurrencies on GPU prices. The days of graphics cards vanishing into cryptocurrency mining devices like Ethereum seem to have unequivocally ended, as the daily income from GPUs like the RTX 4090 remains below $1.
