Nvidia Redesigns Graphics Cards to Limit Their Use in Ethereum Mining

Nvidia has announced new efforts to ensure its graphics cards “end up in the hands of gamers” instead of cryptocurrency miners.

• Nvidia’s RTX 3060 software drivers are “designed to detect specific attributes of the Ethereum cryptocurrency mining algorithm,” per a blog post by Nvidia’s VP of global GeForce marketing, Matt Wuebbling.
• “Users are constantly discovering new applications for [Nvidia GPUs],” the post says. “Mining cryptocurrency is one of them.”
• But Ethereum miners’ strong demand for new GPUs has caused a shortage in supply, and gamers are not happy.
• The news comes as Nvidia RTX 30-series GPUs, first released last fall, were spotted in mining farms.
• If it detects mining activity, RTX 3060 drivers will limit its hashrate by around 50%.
• The technology giant still plans to serve Ethereum miners, though. With the new Cryptocurrency Mining Processor (CMP), Nvidia is offering a professional mining-specific product that doesn’t “do graphics,” per the post, a move it first announced last month.
• Thus, CMPs will not impact the availability of GPUs for gamers, Nvidia says.
• Much of the company’s GPU revenue during the last bull market may have also come from crypto miners, rather than gamers.