Cryptocurrency mining has hit a new stage of fervour among the devoted, as the global GPU shortage has now seen smugglers trying to sneak GPUs into China under the cover of darkness, on a boat of all things. They were caught in the act, though manages to escape, leaving behind their ill-gotten spoils of GPUs, SSDs, smart phones, memory, and even specifically designed crypto mining cards.
This was part of a larger shipment which Hong Kong authorities discovered, worth around $31 million. It included," dried sea cucumbers, dried fish maws, dried shark fins, bird nests, computer display cards, smartphones, computer RAMs, solid-state drives and cosmetics."
The shipment included around 300 of Nvidia's new CMP mining GPUs, which sell for around $700 each. That's nearly a quarter of a million dollars worth of GPUs all by itself. When you factor in the shortage of other components like SSDs and Power Supplies, it's no wonder that smugglers are turning to consumer electronics as a new means of making ends meat.
They may have courted an even higher price when they arrived however, as China has banned cryptocurrency mining in some regions due to the power spikes causing blackouts in some areas. With the price of Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies continuing to rise, too, it's becoming an ever more profitable venture that seems unlikely to slow any time soon.
Image source: HK Government
