Big Crypto Crush of 2018: Mining Is Dead, but Not Quite Yet
TechnologyBit News Today2 min read
A wave of bad news rippled through crypto mining this past month, but the industry is not ready to call it quits quite yet. ## A hard sell
Several large crypto mining companies announced they would sell off a slice of their mining rigs in recent weeks, due to a sharp drop in demand and profit margins. According to unnamed industry insiders, these sell-offs reached upwards of ten thousand machines total in North America and Europe.
But the crypto slip of the past eight months left a lot of these machines sitting idle, unsold, or being sold out of desperation. And it's not just the small timers: Bitmain, world's leader in crypto mining rigs, gave up a fair fraction of its holdings, and Coinmama, another leader, is hard-sellling older models.
Is this a sign of the end of mining? By no means. Rather, it signals a shake-up, with the biggest names having laid down the gauntlet for their competitors to step up and make their products more attractive. The smaller firms are the first to react: North American startups are already cracking open the throttle building the latest models, and their Chinese counterparts are trying to catch in the race to the future. ## Why bother
With so many selling off, why would anyone keep up their mining operations, let alone do it full blast?
Well, for one, the biggest players, such as Fidelity, and J.P. Morgan, are only now starting to show real interest in Bitcoin and other altcoins. This could cause an indirect boom in crypto, which is good for miners, as it means a thumb up for crypto in general.
But even more importantly, mining is not just about Bitcoin. The hashing power for Ethereum-affliated coins is at an all-time high, and the hefty mining is already paying off. Other altcoins, such as those for game and gambling purposes, continue to mint money, and miners will follow.
All of this amounts to a compelling reason to stay the course in the industry. Veteran miners say they've seen it all before, and will still stick to their guns. ## The big change
Still, there's no doubt this is a changing of the guard. The days of mining on your personal computer are long gone, and the shark infestation of big firms in North America and China is here to stay. That also means a mainstreaming of mining, a growing sophistication, and a higher bar for entry.
Mining will never be the same, as it gets closer to the more professional world of professional financial trading. Miners are even sharing computing power with other crypto uses, making mining companies more like cloud storage companies.
All the same, as long as there are coins to dig, there will mining.
