The cryptocurrency industry is currently facing tough times. According to website CoinMarketCap, the industry was down 8.23% yesterday, equating to about $2.1 trillion. The downfall comes after negative Tweets made by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is publicly becoming skeptical of bitcoin. Hearing that Tesla may have sold their bitcoin holdings, multiple people sold out of the market, causing a large dip. Musk has since denied the claim; however, it has only slowed the fall rather than recovered the market.
Bitcoin previously plummeted back in February of this year before skyrocketing above $60,000 a mere two weeks later. Market analysts are hopeful that this trend can repeat itself.
Along with manufacturing delays caused by COVID-19, cryptocurrency mining has caused large problems with computer parts shortages, namely of Graphics Cards (GPUs) and Computer Processors (CPUs). Machines use these parts to mine the currency, which has become increasingly popular. While Nvidia, maker of computer parts, limited mining efficiency by about 50% in their newest line of GPUs, the mining industry is still profitable, and parts still continue to be out of stock on a consistent basis. Whether or not this downturn in the industry will help with the shortage of computer parts is yet to be seen.
