Chip Shortage Around The World - Is Crypto To Blame?

Crypto mining and its impact on the environment has been up for debate for some time now. One of the things that crypto is getting called out for is the shortage of chips around the world. Due to the chip shortages, leading car manufacturers have halted car production. Among such companies is Subaru.

Although many have expected the chip shortage to end quickly, it is very unlikely that it will end this year. Tech experts are warning that it could last well into 2022.

However, although many are saying that crypto mining is to blame for the current situation, some data is showing that the demand for chips for crypto mining is somewhat decreasing. According to the AMD graphics card manufacturer, ASRock, the demand for graphic cards might be decreasing in China.

China is known for having the largest cryptocurrency mining rate, which means that the country uses more chips for blockchain than any other country around the world. This might be a sign and an indicator for a global trend as well.

However, on the other hand, it could also be an impact of China's crackdown on cryptos recently. ASRock also reported that it expects AMD GPU shipments to increase in the second half of the year.

Impact of crypto mining on the environment

The environmental impact of crypto mining has been one of the most discussed topics over the past few years. More people started talking about it after the CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk came forward discussing the issue of bitcoin mining and the importance of using clean energy.

In April, Tesla announced that it would start accepting bitcoin as a way of payment for car purchases. However, quickly after, it canceled the decision citing the environmental impact of bitcoin mining.

Recently, Musk announced that Tesla was ready to continue accepting payments in bitcoin once the majority of bitcoin miners start using clean energy.

Although the concerns around mining and its impact on the environment increase, there is some positive news as well. Recently, the second most popular crypto, Ethereum, announced that its new update plans to kill the traditional mining system in the coming months.

The current system will be replaced with a proof-of-stake consensus system, which is thought to be a lot more environmentally friendly. This also means that GPUs will no longer be required to verify transactions across the network and the demand on chips, at least for Ethereum, will fall.

However, it is still very much unclear how Ethereum's shift will affect the whole market. Although some believe that it will curb the huge demand for chips, others think that the miners might simply switch crypto, instead of the process.

To face the challenges, regulators around the world are coming up with ways to enforce the usage of clean energy in crypto mining. Recently, a bill was proposed to the New York legislature calling for a ban on crypto mining altogether. Later, it was clarified to only affect the miners that do not use green energy.

The increasing popularity of crypto trading

Although there are a lot of concerns about the possible impact of crypto mining and the whole market on the environment, the number of crypto traders around the world is increasing every day.

The market is becoming more accessible for everyone due to the crypto exchanges around the world. These companies are giving traders the ability to invest in the crypto trading market in just a few clicks.

But, there is more. There are numerous companies around the world that have created and developed different types of crypto trading robots that are capable of doing everything for traders. 

A new trading robot from Bitsgap.com, which is one of the best-known software companies in the market, is capable of analyzing the market, as well as actually trading crypto for traders. The company has partnered with leading crypto exchanges in the market, therefore, it is available for the majority of crypto traders globally.

There are many such companies in the market that create bots for crypto traders.

Shortage of chips and crypto mining

Although many believe that crypto mining was the main contributor to the chip shortage, it should also be noted that over the past two years, there have been many other factors as well.

One of the biggest things that had a huge influence on the current situation is the Covid-19 pandemic. Because of the restrictive measures adopted during the pandemic, the majority of manufacturers were unable to continue working on their products. Some of them even halted production.

This had resulted in delays. However, saying that crypto mining had no impact on the current situation is not the right thing either. As the number of crypto miners increases around the world, the demand for chips increases as well.

However, the steps taken by the team behind Ethereum indicate that there is a way out. The upcoming update of the crypto is said to get rid of the need for mining, which is a whole new step for the whole cryptocurrency market.