Research Reveals Ethereum (ETH) GPU Mining Profitability Drops to Zero
Despite the claims of being a decentralized coin, mining Ethereum with a GPU is not profitable in November 2018.
Despite the claims of being a decentralized coin, mining Ethereum with a GPU is not profitable in November 2018.
Ethereum (ETH) is adding to its network troubles, as miners see the profitability for their GPU dwindle to nothing based on research from Susquehanna investigations cited by CNBC. The factors that make Ethereum mining unprofitable are a mix of high difficulty and low asset price.
Miners will usually sell a part of their ETH holdings to cover mining expenses. However, a combination of a lower block reward of 2 ETH every minute, plus the price for ETH crashing below $200 have made mining possibly a non-viable activity.
While owners of older GPUs may remain profitable, new purchases of GPUs for mining have fallen significantly. GPUs are usable not only for Ethereum, but for a multitude of altcoins. But altcoins contain great risk, and are much more volatile compared to major coins.
Despite the launch of E3 miners dedicated to the Ethash algorithm, the network has seen a slowdown of activity in the past months. Mining Ethereum has remained flat, with a gradual slowdown. One of the factors is the expectation of the end of mining, though that has been delayed for 2019. In the meantime, the Ethereum developer team has once again disabled the “difficulty bomb”, and has allowed partial mining.
ETH prices have fallen to $175.25, being extremely vulnerable to sell-offs. ETH remains one of the most traded crypto assets, but sees additional speculation in the past days.
Additionally, Ethereum Classic (ETC) mining has fallen from a temporary peak above 17 TH/s in September, down to around 15 TH/s in November. Ethereum Classic’s rewards are higher, but a depressed price at $7.51 also means lowered profitability. ETC has promised to preserve GPU mining unlike the Ethereum network, which aims to move to proof-of-stake.