Ethereum miners spent $15 billion on GPUs in the last two years TechRadar Skip to main content TechRadar is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's why you can trust us. Ethereum miners spent $15 billion on GPUs in the last two years By Allisa James published 17 June 2022 $15 billion in GPUs doesn't cover other parts (Image credit: Manuel Medir/Getty Images) Audio player loading… Ethereum miners have spent $15 billion in GPUs over the past one and a half years, with that amount being higher when factoring in other parts like CPUs, PSUs, and chassis. The report originally comes from analysts from Bitpro Consulting, which Bloomberg reported on and our friends over at Tom's Hardware spotted. It seems that Ethereum miners might have depleted about 10% of the total GPU supply during the cryptocurrency bubble of the last two years. This explosion in mining and consequent GPU hoarding coincided with gamer demand, which helped fuel the steep rise in prices. On average a GPU cost $1,056 per unit in 2021, compared to it being a third of that price in 2019. GPU sales totalled around $51.8 billion for all of 2021, according to data from JPR. And while Ethereum mining had been profitable at one point, hitting its highs around mid-2021, its value has dropped by 70% this year which bodes poorly for those who got in on the mining late. Analysis The effects of Ethereum mining and beyond  Considering that even in its highs, Ethereum was becoming far slower and more expensive thanks to it nearly hitting its transaction cap on a daily basis. But now with its value tanking, many cryptoinvestors have found themselves unable to recoup the losses from spending so much money on GPUs and other parts. One such story, as outlined in the Bloomberg article, has one man who invested $30,000 in cryptomining hardware in mid-2021 but has only made about $5,000 so far through crypto. That's not even considering the environmental impact of all this mining, as the level of carbon emissions has always been a major problem with cryptocurrencies. And it could be argued that between the waste of the GPUs purchased for mining coupled with the environmental damage, the value of Ethereum alone declining so steeply has made this all for nothing. Allisa JamesComputing Staff WriterAllisa has been freelancing at TechRadar for nine months before joining as a Computing Staff Writer. She mainly covers breaking news and rumors in the computing industry, and does reviews and featured articles for the site. In her spare time you can find her chatting it up on her two podcasts, Megaten Marathon and Combo Chain, as well as playing any JRPGs she can get her hands on. See more Computing news TechRadar Newsletter Sign up to get breaking news, reviews, opinion, analysis and more, plus the hottest tech deals! Thank you for signing up to TechRadar. You will receive a verification email shortly. There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again. MOST POPULARMOST SHARED1Blizzard made me explain Overwatch 2 smurfing to my mum for nothing2Apple October launches: the new devices we might see this month3Google's AI editing tricks are making Photoshop irrelevant for most people4You may not have to sell a body part to afford the Nvidia RTX 4090 after all5The iPhone 14 Pro is made of the wrong stuff; the Pixel 7 proves that to me1Best laptops for designers and coders 2The iPhone 14 Pro is made of the wrong stuff; the Pixel 7 proves that to me3iPhone 15 tipped to come with an upgraded 5G chip4Logitech's latest webcam and headset want to relieve your work day frustrations5Best offers on Laptops for Education – this festive season Technology Magazines (opens in new tab)● (opens in new tab)The best tech tutorials and in-depth reviewsFrom$12.99 (opens in new tab)View (opens in new tab)