Bitcoin is hugely popular with gamers and the massive growth in price over the last five years has made many rich beyond their wildest dreams. BTC started as a currency used in games and the Bitcoin gambling sector alone is worth more than $4 billion each year. If it had not been for this we would not have seen the crypto revolution take place. It is not all good news however as cryptocurrencies are also having a bad effect on the gaming industry. In this article, I will talk about the top five reasons why it is bad for gamers.
#1: Mining Cryptocurrency
The blockchain is powered by vast networks of cryptocurrency miners that require vast amounts of energy to power them. Mining is essential to the success of cryptos and as they become more popular, much greater power requirements will need to be met. If mining is taking place on a network connection that is used for gaming it will greatly slow down the connection. It will also use huge amounts of computing power using the graphics cards which has a big impact on computer speed. All of the different cryptos such as Ripple and Ether require mining and due to their growing demand it is putting even more pressure on the network.
#2: Graphics Card Demand
To be able to effectively mine cryptocurrency a top of the range graphics card is required. Due to the number of people entering the crypto mining space, it has led to a surge in demand for graphics cards worldwide. This is not good news for gamers as it has led to supplies running out and long waiting times.
#3: Cost Of Graphic Cards
Due to supply not been able to keep up with demand it has seen graphics card costs such as the GeForce GTX skyrocket. Instead of graphics cards mainly been used to power pcs to run the highest quality games, they are not also be used for mining cryptocurrency such as Ripple and Bitcoin. This has led to stock shortages which have led to stores increasing the prices.
#4: Competition
Most people who build custom PCs do so to play games on them. By using top of the range parts it means that gamers can give themselves a slight advantage due to the increased speed. The parts to build custom pcs has grown significantly due to the demand from the cryptocurrency mining sector. Due to the fact that they are using them to make money, it means that they are able to pay more for the parts then gamers. They are now having to play second fiddle and wait longer times for parts to arrive as they have all been gobbled up by miners around the world.
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Conclusion
Due to the demand for graphics cards, it will encourage the best developers to create better solutions and should help advance technology which would be great for both. Over the next few years, the costs will increase but should vastly reduce once more competition enters the market. Bitcoin along with all the other cryptos such as Ripple are here for good and in general, they should be able to improve our lives once the tech has been fully utilized. With many unique ICOs offering new concepts of combining earning free digital money and gaming it is an exciting time ahead.
