Cryptocurrency miners, gamers brawl over chips

The chips, er…jibes, are becoming increasingly personal. Peel away the silicon layers and it turns out, graphics cards and computer processors are at the heart of it. These have become so scarce that two communities — gamers and cryptocurrency whales — are at loggerheads over who gets them and how many.Across private chat rooms, online forums such as Reddit and social media groups, the knives are out – both in India and abroad. At the core of this battle are high speed computer processors — called graphics processing units (GPUs) — which are manufactured abroad in small batches and typically imported.GPUs are used in graphics cards, essential for high-end computer gaming for a better audio-visual experience. They are also, by the way, excellent tools for ‘mining’, that is, helping users solve complex algorithms in return for cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. Now, a global shortage of semiconductor chips, coupled with a surge in demand from both gamers and miners, has disrupted GPU supplies.Predictably, each side is accusing the other of hoarding.“We gamers buy only what we need, and we do not scalp. We have ethics,” says 30-year-old Ravi Bhasin, a Mumbai-based financial services professional who moonshines as an elite gamer. Scalping means profiting by reselling at a higher price. “Miners hoard all cards they can get their hands on. They keep what they need and sell the less desired ones for profit.”A gamer needs only one GPU, they argue, unlike crypto miners who need several, sometimes even dozens, depending on the scale of their operation.Miners are equally contemptuous, online. “Gaming is a selfish form of entertainment and you’re an idiot for thinking your feelings and passion are important to the world. Mining, on the other hand, is changing the world,” says a Reddit user who goes by the name Mac-Royal.As more Indians join the gold rush for digital assets, the demand-supply mismatch has turned the entire economics on its head.Prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two most popular cryptocurrencies, have surged by over 500% over the past six months to about Rs 40.4 lakh and Rs 2 lakh per unit, respectively. It’s a no-brainer that prices of graphic cards have consequently spiralled.

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