I know, I know Bitcoin was so seven months ago, however, let me elaborate as to why I decided to make this my first ever blog post. Bitcoin is something everyone now knows about due to it increased value during the end of 2017 and as it seemed to make those who invested in it very wealthy the rest of the population wanted to ‘jump on the Bitcoin wagon’ as it were.
At its peak, 1 Bitcoin on the 17th of December 2017 was worth near to $20,000 (approximately £15250), although since then the price has fluctuated. Subsequently, at the current time of writing this 1 Bitcoin is worth just over $7,700 (approximately £5870). This, therefore, means that the value of bitcoin has fallen more than 60% in seven and a half months.
But what does this all mean…
Well, firstly, you can relax now as I have finished with all the numbers and calculations. Secondly, despite the massive decrease in value, I think this means that currently, Bitcoin is at a great place because the reason its value increased so much was due to: the fascination in a new kind of currency, the chance to accumulate vast amounts of money easily and the sheer excitement or ‘hype’ (as it is called nowadays). However, as Bitcoin became ‘old news’ many people lost interest in it and now it has become more stable which means that it can be used a legitimate currency for online transactions as it is more secure and less traceable by governments that wish to know your each and every transaction.
Moreover, for me personally, as a computing and gaming enthusiast, Bitcoin’s rise has lead to a surge in demand for high-end graphics cards (a key component used for ‘Bitcoin Mining’ and other forms of ‘Crypto Mining’). Many powerful cards, such as the GTX 1080ti, were brought in large amounts and put into systems that would ‘mine’ Bitcoin by carrying out computational tasks and calculations in return for Bitcoin. Thus, this demand exceeded the world’s supply of graphics cards and prices rocketed by a few hundred pounds.
Luckily, for people like me, Nvidia (the company that make and sell the GTX/GeForce line of graphics cards) said that “For Nvidia, gamers come first” – when commenting to German website Computerbase.de.
Therefore, they began to sell only one graphics card per customer at prices lower than that of the current market. Subsequently, the fall in Bitcoin’s value and interest has lead to the prices of graphics cards to fall greatly and now many people like me are able to buy more powerful graphics cards at lower prices.
[This is the end of my first blog, however, I would like to thank you for getting to the end. Please comment and email me about your thoughts as I would love to hear them and please share this if you found it interesting. Thank you!]
Dilshaan TechTips 