加密货币行业的动荡破坏了投资者的投资组合，让大小投资者难以适应。这也给曾经受益于加密技术崛起的英伟达(NVDA.US)的GPU销售造成了损失。长期以来，英伟达的图形处理器（简称“GPU”）一直受到电脑游戏爱好者的欢迎，在加密技术繁荣时期，作为生成数字货币系统的重要组成部分，这些GPU获得了第二次生命。
尽管英伟达试图限制其在该行业的敞口，但加密货币的上涨已经推动该公司产品在EBay等二级市场上的价格飙升。
随着加密货币贬值，矿工们对昂贵电脑硬件的需求减少了。随着流行的以太坊区块链网络转向一种称为“权益证明”的新获取方法，由于这种方法不需要同样的重型计算机处理，预计矿工对GPU的需求将进一步减少，
据估计，随着加密爱好者放弃对GPU的需求，超过三分之一的消费显卡市场可能会消失。这些产品在EBay网站和其他市场上堆积如山。虽然英伟达的建议零售价格没有改变，但它们在二级市场的售价比最近几个月下降了50%。
Robert W. Baird & Co的分析师Tristan Gerra表示，“消费者不想购买GPU，因为他们知道目前这批GPU可能会在两个季度内被淘汰（新系列显卡或在一年内推出）。与此同时，我们相信加密相关的购买已经稳步下降。”
英伟达GPU在二手市场的价格走势和加密货币一致
显卡是一种适合PC的核心硬件，它能将代码转换成可以在显示器上显示的图像。它配备了被称为图形处理器(GPU)的芯片，可以改善电脑渲染游戏的方式。
加密矿工发现，设计用于高分辨率玩《刺客信条》或《荒野大镖客》的游戏设备也可以用来生产新的加密代币，这引发了抢购设备的热潮。
一张指导售价为1499美元的英伟达GPU，疯狂的买家原因为此支付两倍的价格。新街研究公司的分析师Pierre Ferragu报告称，自2021年初以来，矿工们购买了价值30亿美元的GPU，现在这些GPU正“涌入二手市场”。
问题是，这一转变将如何影响英伟达。英伟达是美国最大的GPU供应商，也是美国最有价值的芯片制造商。该公司承认，加密矿工的需求放缓影响了一些产品的需求。英伟达并不是唯一一家面临潜在影响的公司。以个人电脑处理器闻名的AMD(AMD.US)也受到了影响。
英伟达首席财务官Colette Kress在上个月的季度电话会议上表示:“以太坊网络现金率增长速度的放缓可能反映了GPU上挖矿活动的减少。”“我们预计未来（加密矿工需求）贡献会逐渐减少。”
英伟达多年来一直在为如何与加密行业打交道而苦苦挣扎。虽然矿商的需求推动了销售，但市场的变幻莫测突然让业绩变得更难预测。2018年年底，该公司将疲弱的预测归咎于加密货币的暴跌时，这一局面达到了顶峰。英伟达警告称，营收将比华尔街预期的低数亿美元，导致其股价在短短两天内下跌了20%。
该公司不希望这种情况再次发生，所以它降低了适用于游戏玩家GPU(GeForce品牌)的挖矿效率。该公司还发布了一款为加密市场设计的GPU，这种产品不能用于游戏，因为缺乏连接显示器所需的硬件。
即便如此，美国证券交易委员会(SEC)还是批评英伟达在前几个季度没有向投资者充分说明其收入来源。今年5月，SEC对英伟达处以550万美元的罚款，原因是该公司未能充分披露加密货币挖矿活动的减少对其GPU销售的影响。
与此同时，英伟达更具针对性的新加密产品销量有所下降。今年2月，英伟达表示，第四季度只售出了2400万美元的相关产品，还不到该季度游戏相关总销售额的1%左右。
这表明英伟达作为加密货币供应商的日子已经越来越短。英伟达CEO黄仁勋表示，游戏和数据中心客户的需求依然强劲，这些客户使用该公司的芯片为人工智能提供动力。过去两年，英伟达的总营收每年都增长50%以上。
黄仁勋在上个月的公司最新季度电话会议上表示，“游戏行业的潜在动力真的很稳固。”
这样一来，该公司仍然会受到加密货币热潮的影响。Baird的Gerra估计，高达35%的消费显卡是矿商在加密货币价格上涨期间购买的。其中很多产品正在流向二级市场，可能会侵蚀英伟达的销售。
MarkSight的数据显示，过去两个月，英伟达(Nvidia)的GeForce 3080在EBay上的价格从4月底的1,100美元跌至793美元。这对游戏玩家来说是个好消息，他们现在可以不用花大价钱就能买到硬件。
行业研究员Jon Peddie表示:“随着加密需求的减少，投机者也退出了市场。”
而且，加密货币矿工市场不太可能很快东山再起。新技术不再使用计算机生成以太坊代币，而是转向竞价过程。那些将现有资产作为抵押品的公司将获得新的配额。
Baird的Gerra表示，从好的方面来看，加密客户的流失将使人们更容易衡量英伟达传统买家的需求。
Although Nvidia has tried to limit its exposure to the industry, the rise in the cryptocurrency has pushed up the price of its products in secondary markets such as EBay.
As the cryptocurrency depreciated, miners’ demand for expensive computer hardware decreased. As the popular Ethernet block chain network shifts to a new acquisition method called “proof of interest”, as this method does not require the same heavy computer processing, miners’ demand for GPU is expected to be further reduced.
It is estimated that more than 1/3 of the consumer graphics card market may disappear as encryption enthusiasts give up their demand for GPU. These products are piling up on EBay and other markets. Although Nvidia’s recommended retail prices have not changed, their prices in the secondary market are down 50% from recent months.
Tristan Gerra, an analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co, said, “consumers do not want to buy GPU because they know that the current batch of GPU may be phased out within two quarters (a new series of graphics cards may be launched within a year). At the same time, we believe that encryption-related purchases have declined steadily. “
The price trend of Nvidia GPU in the secondary market is consistent with that of cryptocurrency.
The graphics card is a core hardware suitable for PC, which can convert the code into an image that can be displayed on the monitor. It is equipped with a chip called graphics processing unit (GPU), which can improve the way computers render games.
Encryption miners have found that gaming devices designed to play “Assassin Creed” or “Wild Dart” at high resolution can also be used to produce new encrypted tokens, sparking a rush to buy equipment.
An Nvidia GPU, which sells for $1499, is paid twice as much by crazy buyers. Pierre Ferragu, an analyst at New Street Research, reports that miners have bought $3 billion worth of GPU since the beginning of 2021, and now the GPU is “pouring into the secondary market”.
The question is how this shift will affect Nvidia. Nvidia is the largest GPU supplier and the most valuable chipmaker in the United States. The company acknowledges that the slowdown in demand from encryption miners has affected demand for some products. Nvidia is not the only company facing potential impact. AMD (AMD.US), known for its personal computer processors, has also been affected.
Colette Kress, Nvidia’s chief financial officer, said on a quarterly conference call last month: “the slowdown in the growth rate of the ethernet cash rate may reflect a decline in mining activity on GPU.” “We expect the contribution [to encrypt miners’ demand] to gradually decrease in the future.”
Nvidia has struggled for years over how to deal with the encryption industry. While demand from miners has boosted sales, the vagaries of the market have suddenly made performance harder to predict. The situation peaked at the end of 2018 when the company blamed the weak forecast on the collapse of the cryptocurrency. Nvidia warned that revenue would be hundreds of millions of dollars lower than Wall Street had expected, causing its shares to fall 20 per cent in just two days.
The company doesn’t want this to happen again, so it reduces mining efficiency for gamers like GPU (the GeForce brand). The company also released a GPU designed for the encryption market, which cannot be used in games because of the lack of hardware to connect to the monitor.
Even so, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) criticized Nvidia for not fully explaining its source of income to investors in previous quarters. In May, SEC fined Nvidia $5.5 million for failing to fully disclose the impact of reduced cryptocurrency mining activity on its GPU sales.
At the same time, sales of Nvidia’s more targeted new encryption products have fallen. In February, Nvidia said it sold only $24 million of related products in the fourth quarter, less than about 1 per cent of total game-related sales in that quarter.
This shows that Nvidia’s days as a supplier of cryptocurrency are getting shorter and shorter. Huang Renxun, Nvidia CEO, said demand from gaming and data center customers, who use the company’s chips to power artificial intelligence, remains strong. Nvidia’s total revenue has grown by more than 50% in each of the past two years.
“the underlying momentum in the gaming industry is really solid,” Huang Renxun said on the company’s latest quarterly conference call last month. “
As a result, the company will still be affected by the cryptocurrency boom. Baird’s Gerra estimates that up to 35 per cent of consumer graphics cards were purchased by miners during a period of rising cryptocurrency prices. Many of these products are going to the secondary market and could erode Nvidia’s sales.
The price of Nvidia’s GeForce 3080 on EBay has fallen to $793 in the past two months from $1100 at the end of April, according to MarkSight. This is good news for gamers, who can now buy hardware without spending a lot of money.
Jon Peddie, an industry researcher, said: “as the demand for encryption decreases, speculators have also withdrawn from the market.”
And the cryptocurrency miner market is unlikely to make a comeback any time soon. The new technology no longer uses computers to generate Ethernet tokens, but turns to the bidding process. Companies that use existing assets as collateral will receive new quotas.
On the plus side, the loss of encryption customers will make it easier to measure the needs of Nvidia’s traditional buyers, says Baird’s Gerra.
