After countless delays, the Ethereum "Merge" finally took place last week but at what cost?

The merge changed Ethereum's protocol consensus from PoW to a more environmentally friendly PoS. However, this caused some collateral damage along the way. For example, it is hurting GPU companies that were making huge profits because of the demand for ETH miners. Asia-focused media outlet South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that the Ethereum downturn has triggered a drop in GPU prices in China, bringing sales to "the lowest levels in history".

Sellers of graphics cards that were once in high demand by cryptocurrency miners – including those using Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3080, RTX 3080 Ti, and RTX 3090 – used to command triple the recommended retail price. Those days may be over as prices have slid over the last couple of months, according to merchants in Shanghai's electronics retail market, in anticipation of the Ethereum blockchain's shift last week to proof-of-stake, referred to as "the Merge".

According to one merchant, during the mining peak people from the mining companies walked into the stores with cash and took away all the graphics cards. "But now look at the stores. No one is buying new computers because of the coronavirus, not to mention those who want to install a new graphics card," he added.

Another merchant said that prices for some models had now dropped below their recommended retail price. Chinese e-commerce platforms have also seen merchants drop prices on high-end graphics cards in a bid to sell them.

Nvidia had a big week with GTC 2022, and management is ready to rumble against any excess inventory from crypto mining. The negative catalyst from crypto mining and Nvidia's price action is eerily similar to Q4 2018/Q1 2019 —- yet the company is not the same company it was four years ago. This is apparent by Nvidia flexing some major product muscle by timing its best-ever gaming release and its best-ever AI chip to hit the market in October.