The miners have been pointed out on many occasions as the main culprits of the increase in the price of dedicated graphics , although in recent months the situation has become somewhat more complex . Despite the current pessimism, we may see an improvement on this front throughout the year 2022, as Ethereum 2.0 aims to take a 180 degree turn in the way the mining process is performed with this cryptocurrency.
To be more specific, the Ethereum Foundation has published a entry in its official blog to ask to the community to start using the first Ethereum 2 testnet , whose name is Kintsugi , in order to become familiar with it. It is important to note that the second major version of the cryptocurrency is still under development, and it seems that this will continue to be the case in the coming months.
The reason why those responsible have made the call (which is accompanied by the error report and support to resolve doubts) is because Ethereum will stop using the GPU in the not too distant future, which represents a radical change that could be seen coming, at least for a year .
The decision has been made with the purpose, among other things, of reducing energy consumption and thus being a more environmentally friendly option . Obviously, this can have an impact on a decrease in GPU demand, more so considering that it is possibly the second most popular cryptocurrency after Bitcoin. After conducting the tests, which will take a few months, the merger with the main node will be carried out.
It seems that Kintsugi will not be the only testnet, as the Ethereum Foundation could launch others in order to find and correct vulnerabilities and security flaws before completing the transition to Ethereum 2. There are no dates yet on when the transition to Ethereum 2 would end as there are sources that point to mid-2022 and others to 2023 .
In short and focusing more on users, Ethereum miners have approximately six months at the beginning of the transition to extract as much revenue as they can through GPUs. Of course, despite the fact that only a few cryptocurrencies monopolize the media focus, the reality is that miners have enough alternatives to continue using the graph, among which are Raven, Grin and Monero, so we will see to what extent Ethereum 2 will alleviate pressure on the dedicated graphics market.