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Welcome to BroBible’s regular roundup of the biggest news in the world of cryptocurrencies. We’ll be providing you with the biggest news and stories concerning Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other major altcoins to help you keep your finger on the pulse of the crypto market.
After a couple of weeks of heavy losses, it looks like the cryptocurrency market has become relatively stable as one analyst suggests we might currently be in “Bitcoin Purgatory.”
- Bitcoin (BTC): $6,472 (up 1.4% in last week)
- Ethereum (ETH): $290.70 (down 6% in last week)
- Ripple (XRP): $.335 (up 12.2% in last week)
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH): $549 (down 3.2% in last week)
- EOS: $5.10 (up 2.5% in last week)
- Litecoin (LTC): $56.25 (down 4.25% in last week)
- Tron (TRX): $.0218 (down .5% in last week)
Crypto Miners Face A Reckoning As Profits Shrink
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Over the past few years, there’s been one group of people who have been particularly impacted by the rise of cryptocurrencies: PC gamers.
The price of graphics processing units absolutely skyrocketed as people scooped them up in order to mine crypto. However, with Bitcoin currently hovering around the $6,000 mark, those profits have been cut dramatically since it peaked in value last year.
This means the secondhand market is now being flooded with rigs sold by solo miners being pushed out of the game as the growing hash rate and market stagnation eat into their returns.
However, it isn’t just consumers of GPUs who are being impacted.
Nvidia No Longer Heavily Relying On Crypto
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The companies who produced the cards that were so sought-after by miners certainly reaped the benefits but it looks like that gravy train has also come to an end.
Following the release of their second-quarter numbers last week, Nvidia announced that they would no longer be relying on the crypto sector to contribute much to their bottom line, saying:
“Our revenue outlook had anticipated cryptocurrency-specific products declining to approximately $100 million, while actual crypto-specific product revenue was $18 million, and we now expect a negligible contribution going forward.”
I guess it was fun while it lasted.
Wallets Continue To Grow Even As Values Shrink
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August hasn’t exactly been the hottest month as far as cryptocurrencies are concerned but it doesn’t look like a drop in value has led to a drop in interest among new traders.
Last week, Coinbase revealed they’ve continued to add users at an impressive rate and another report seems to echo their data, as The Daily Hodl says over 750,000 new blockchain wallets have come into existence over the past three weeks.
They also noted some other platforms have seen record numbers as far as trading volume is concerned, so if you’re trying to stay bullish in a bear market, there are at least a couple of things you can take solace in.
Venezuela’s National Cryptocurrency Experiment Is Destined To Fail
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As Venezuela currently faces the latest in a long line of economic crises, president Nicolas Maduro has introduced a number of new initiatives in an attempt to turn things around.
One of those initiatives involves the Petro, Venezuela’s national cryptocurrency. The supposedly “devaluation-proof” nationalized coin has become a topic of discussion after Maduro made it a centerpiece of his new agenda in an attempt to hedge against the rapidly devaluating bolivar (the country’s paper currency).
However, as Bloomberg notes, the token— which is allegedly tied to the price of oil— has all the telltale signs of a crypto scam.
It’s also controlled and regulated by the Venezuelan government which kind of defeats the point of cryptocurrencies in the first place.
I wouldn’t advise getting in on the action but feel free to rub it in my face if you somehow manage to become a Petro billionaire.