---
title: "After Ban, Chinese Bitcoin Miners Are Flooding the Market With GPUs"
description: "China is seriously starting to crack down on crypto mining within its borders, forcing miners to sell off their hardware in record numbers."
date: "2021-07-01"
modified: "2021-07-01"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/china-bitcoin-market-gpus"
categories:
  - "Bitcoin"
  - "Blockchain"
  - "Cryptocurrency"
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "bitcoin"
  - "cryptocurrencies"
  - "gpu"
  - "the digest"
---

# After Ban, Chinese Bitcoin Miners Are Flooding the Market With GPUs

![China is seriously starting to crack down on crypto mining within its borders, forcing miners to sell off their hardware in record numbers.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/china-bitcoin-market-gpus.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://pixabay.com/photos/bitcoin-mining-processor-3369039/" target="\_blank"\>Image via Pixabay/Futurism\</a\>\</em\>*

## Price Drop

Getting your hands on a graphics card has been near impossible lately, with cryptocurrency mining and chip shortages eating up all available inventory of graphics processing units (GPUs) and hiking prices to record levels.

But there may soon be some respite. China is [seriously starting to crack down](<https://futurism.com/chinese-officials-investigating-crypto-mining-operations>) on crypto mining within its borders, forcing miners to sell off their hardware in record numbers, as [*PC Gamer* reports](<https://www.pcgamer.com/cryptocurrency-miners-in-china-are-beginning-to-sell-off-gpus-for-cheap/>).

Is it a new dawn for cryptocurrencies as a whole? It's hard to tell — but values of digital tokens, as well as the real-world goods associated with them, are probably still in for a rocky ride.

## Crypto Crackdown

Rather than selling well above their original retail price (MSRP), as has been the case for years now, cards are starting to go on sale for just over their MSRP now in parts of Asia, according to *PC Gamer*.

China recently [began to stamp out cryptocurrency mining operations](<https://futurism.com/china-crackdown-cryptocurrency-mining>) across the nation, signaling the imminent end of the country's considerable crypto mining contributions to global operations. [According to recent estimates](<https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/5/26/bbchinas-latest-crackdown-on-crypto-caused-by-surge-in-coal-mini#:~:text=About%2065%25%20of%20the%20world%27s,by%20the%20University%20of%20Cambridge.>), 65 percent of global Bitcoin mining took place in China as of April 2020.

As a result, the price of several mainstream cryptocurrencies have plummeted, with Bitcoin [dropping to less than half](<https://www.forbes.com/sites/cbovaird/2021/05/19/bitcoin-has-fallen-more-than-50-from-its-all-time-high-whats-next/?sh=7de40a031ea3>) of what it was worth during its all-time highs back in April of this year.

GPU prices are also dropping in Europe, [*Tom's Hardware* reports](<https://www.tomshardware.com/news/graphics-card-inventory-improves-overseas-with-lhr-geforce-rtx>), despite still being nearly impossible to get hold of. In the US, where crypto mining is alive and well, inventories are still tight and prices high.

But buyers beware: GPUs that were originally used to cryptocurrency mining — a highly computing intensive process — may not have a long life ahead of them, as *PC Gamer* points out.

**READ MORE:** [Cryptocurrency miners in China are beginning to sell off GPUs for cheap](<https://www.pcgamer.com/cryptocurrency-miners-in-china-are-beginning-to-sell-off-gpus-for-cheap/>) \[*PC Gamer*\]

**More on crypto GPUs:** *[GPU Prices Plummet After China Cracks Down on Bitcoin Mining](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/gpu-prices-plummet-china-cracks-down-bitcoin>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)