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Huaqiang North, once regarded as the electronic trading center of China Shanzhai, is performing another madness: mining-mining virtual tokens such as Bitcoin and Ethereum with computing power.
Serving every miner well is the first day of the company, and creating higher income is the meaning of our existence. A banner of "Professional Miner Service Provider" hangs in a conspicuous position in Huaqiang North SEG Electronic Market.
Huaqiang North, with its sense of smell and grasp of business opportunities, may become the leader of offline electronic trading market in China. In the past ten years, Huaqiang North has accurately grasped the outlets of consumer electronics, servers and even cosmetics in online celebrities, even though the volume of the voice is getting smaller and smaller.
Now, the coin digging service is the darling here. This tuyere first appeared at 20 17. That year, the price of virtual tokens in China soared. Huaqiang North computer vendors, who hold a large number of high-computing game graphics cards in their hands, use their resources to transform and "mine".
The so-called mine is actually a package that needs to be decrypted. Earlier, this decryption work was calculated by CPU (Central Processing Unit). Later, it was found that the GPU (graphics processor) installed on the graphics card was more suitable for mining.
Why? The most important thing about mining is that the hardware has large computing power, but the computing mode is simple. The characteristic of CPU is that it can handle complex operations, but its computing power is not as good as that of GPU, just the opposite.
Someone gave an example. In mining, CPU is a doctoral student and graphics card stream is a high school student. High school students are qualified for this job, and there are far more high school students than doctoral students.
Huaqiang North provided what the miners needed. Miners need "high school students" to dig for them to make money, and Huaqiang North "serves every miner well".
The graphics card market is relatively stable. If the virtual currency market keeps booming, it will really be a good deal. But now things have changed.
Half a year ago, the global tide of core shortage hit. AMD, Intel and NVIDIA are in short supply. The lack of core also spread to the graphics card market, and the output of domestic downstream graphics card manufacturers such as ASUS, Colorful, MSI and Galaxy declined.
At this time, a new bull market of virtual tokens came, and the demand of "miners" for graphics cards rose. In order to solve this problem, a large number of graphics cards that should have been used for game equipment have been transferred to the "mining" market. "graphics card shortage" broke out in an all-round way.
In order to let more potential "miners" enter the market, the big merchants in Huaqiang North not only package "one-stop service", draw bigger cakes, but even explore another business opportunity-hard disk mining, and new stories are still being staged.
Here, cheating and speculation have never changed for more than a decade, just changed their forms. For those "miners" who have persistent beliefs about the benefits of partial doors, this may not be a scam, but more opportunities that others can't see.
They believe that as long as they "believe" all the time, they may become lucky people.
The entrance of Huaqiang North is SEG Electronic Market and Huaqiang Electronic World. The two major electronic stores have gathered sellers of computers, communications, networks, security, audio-visual and electronic components.
The third, fourth and fifth floors were originally dominated by computer merchants, whose main business was sales, maintenance, assembly and accessories. After the price of 20 17 virtual tokens soared, many businesses with keen sense of smell turned into "mining service companies", selling graphics cards, hard disks and mining machines, and even providing "one-stop" service for hosting and operating mining machines.
Walking out of the SEG electronic market, you can enter the 72-story SEG Plaza office building. This is the "office area" hidden by some electronic stores. The doorplates of "XX Mining" and "XX Technology" are hung at the entrance of the office, and some buyers who have further intentions in the downstairs booth will be brought here by the merchants in the store for "in-depth discussion".
"Real-time quotation, hourly price is different, but also ask the channel inventory."
"/kloc-more than 0/0 pieces are out of stock, so you need to pay a deposit and deliver them in 2-3 days."
In Huaqiang North, this situation is very common, and selling everything is this logic.
However, the soaring price of graphics cards has made some small businesses that just want to do business around computers miserable. "Few gamers are willing to spend 10,000 yuan on a graphics card."
Then Huaqiang North's video card seems to be only sold to "miners". But "mining" is risky, and speculative buyers only make inquiries and smell danger and don't buy it. The pressure is almost transmitted to the small and medium-sized sellers in Huaqiang North-hoarding graphics cards is also risky; If you don't hoard, you can't catch the business when it comes. They are in a dilemma.
Offline small and medium sellers are out of stock, and online e-commerce channels are also out of stock. All brands of RTX3070 series graphics cards can only buy 1 cards in JD.COM, Taobao, Tmall and other online channels, or directly prompt that they are out of stock. Asustek's self-operated store in JD.COM costs 13000 yuan, but it is actually out of stock.
Centralized supply channels and big sellers. However, big sellers are not satisfied with just selling graphics cards, they want to be a one-stop service.
There are also sales that there is still cash worth10 million in the warehouse. If the inventory is not enough, you can pay a 50% deposit to get the goods through the channel.
After the graphics cards flowing into the "mining" market become "residual cards", they will return to Huaqiang North. Usually, the "residual card" can be used for games, but its service life is greatly shortened.
Some small sellers will take the initiative to tell buyers the real situation, but it does not rule out the situation of packaging "residual cards" into "new cards".
After 20 17, the tide of "graphics card mining" gradually formed.
Before 20 17, some bitcoin players used computer graphics cards to "mine" at home while holding and trading tokens, in order to show their personal identity and express their "bitcoin belief".
Players usually dig mines by the way during the host game, regardless of the income. In fact, this kind of "mining" is generally "only losing money." Because a single graphics card usually does not run at full speed, the computing power is limited, the efficiency of "mining" is low, and the cost of "mining" for personal electricity is too high.
After 20 17, a large number of illegal financing phenomena of issuing digital tokens (ICO) appeared in China. The prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum have risen, and grassroots mass players have begun to participate in speculative mining. Graphics cards have been explored into a completely speculative industry by digging Ethereum.
On September 4th of the same year, the People's Bank of China and other seven ministries and commissions issued the Announcement on Preventing the Financing Risks of Token Issuance. After a short dive, the virtual token market immediately went underground, and a large number of grassroots players still participated in speculation through "over-the-counter trading". So speculation and "mining" have not been eradicated.
In the past, the first choice for "mining" was originally a mining machine. However, a single mining machine is expensive and single-purpose. The mainstream mining machine whose original price was1-20,000 yuan was fired to 50,000 yuan. Mainstream mining machines are used to mine bitcoin. However, bitcoin has been hovering at a high price for a long time, "mining" is inefficient, arbitrage space is insufficient, and there is a great risk of loss. Even if small players dig bitcoin, they often hold it for a long time and cannot realize it in time.
Bitcoin mining machine has a high threshold and high cost for small players. The high-end game graphics card with high computing power has gradually become a substitute for mining machines.
Compared with the mining machine, the graphics card is ordinary, cheap, flexible and has a low threshold. Take NVIDIA RTX3060/3070 as an example. In 2020, 2,500 yuan and 4,000 yuan are needed respectively. The graphics card mining machine consists of a computer host and 4-8 graphics cards, which are easy to assemble and disassemble and can be used in various scenes.
Graphic mining machine can be used to mine mainstream currency such as Ethereum, and also can be used to mine cottage currency such as dogecoin. The former has stable prices and frequent transactions, while the latter has a large arbitrage space. Some video card sellers even directly played the slogan of "video card mining, steady profit without loss".
Strong risk resistance of graphics cards is also an important factor. Second-hand graphics cards can be sold to gamers when there are "money difficulties" and "mine disasters". A purchaser who claimed to need 200 graphics cards bluntly said that in some universities or scientific research institutions, high-performance graphics cards can be reimbursed when purchasing because they support big data computing and have the functions of scientific research and "mining", and compliance inspection is easy to get away with.
A coin circle technician recalled, "At that time, it began to taste bad, and the graphics card market was in chaos."
"Graphic mining" began to spread from the player's personal behavior. Huaqiang North computer sellers smell speculation.
These sellers "have the advantage of the first month", with graphics cards, hard disks, hosts, assembly, and inventory of upstream channels. Driven by the money market and the tide of mining, it is a logical choice to do "mining".
"Maintenance, assembly and sales of a computer, the profit is only 100-200 yuan. The profit of selling a graphics card is 100-200 yuan, and big buyers sometimes buy hundreds or even thousands of graphics cards a day. "
Cai, the person in charge of Huaqiang Electronic World's "mining" company, said that the traditional computer business has long been unprofitable, and almost all computer sellers are selling graphics cards and mining machines. Although the company's booth is less than 5 square meters, there is an office area on the 54th floor of the office building in Seg Square, with more than 20 employees, and there are special personnel responsible for channels, sales and warehouses.
Another "mining industry" in SEG electronic market is the mom-and-pop store, which took root in Huaqiang North more than ten years ago and was the earliest computer wholesaler.
In 20 17, this company once hoarded a large number of video cards and mining machines. In September, the regulatory policy was introduced, the prices of video cards and mining machines plummeted, and the company suffered serious losses. The founder of the company put the graphics card and the mining machine into the "mining factory" and finally recovered the loss.
"Later, the market picked up, speculating money to make money, selling first-hand mining machines to make money, selling second-hand mining machines to make money, and mining to make money. The boss tasted the sweetness and completely decided to do this. " The person in charge of the store said that the company later transformed into a "mining industry". In addition to selling mining machines and graphics cards, it also provides mining machine hosting and operation and maintenance services, which is known as "providing overall solutions".
After September 2020, the "money market" once again ushered in a new round of bull market, and the process of "transformation" of computer business accelerated. The original computer industry became a sideline, and the seller changed his name to "mining". Sellers with scruples are half-hidden, the left light board shows computer assembly, and the right light board shows mining machine sales.
Graphics card "mining" is not suitable for operation at home. Because of the high noise and power consumption, when two graphics cards are running at full speed at the same time, the noise is as high as 100 dB. When the seller was helping the buyer to test the graphics card, a dramatic scene appeared: the graphics card was on fire.
In fact, returning to the original in 200 days is only an ideal situation. The period of "mining" is generally three years, and it is difficult to find mines, and there may be a phenomenon of stealing calculation power. Once the graphics card is damaged and the mining machine fails, it needs special personnel to repair it. It is also difficult to define the ownership of the mining machine after 3 years. At present, the mainstream practice in mining plants is to take away the mining machine after three years. This practice is a "overlord clause", but it has become a hidden rule in the currency circle.
He reminded that the mining machine can't be seen from beginning to end, and any link may have problems, even in the process of procurement and transportation, there are too many pits inside.
Mining machine custody is also a prerequisite. According to the person in charge of the store, "only graphics cards with a size of 100 or more can be managed". Based on the quotation of the store that day, colorful RTX3070 9700 yuan, host 1600 yuan, the investment will reach one million yuan.
Although the buyer is promised to "make a steady profit without compensation", the actual situation is that the compensation has to be paid.
The clerk said that he made more than 10 million by speculating in coins in 2020. These days, the speculation of "Shiba Inu coins" is tens of thousands of yuan, and he regrets selling it too early, because "it has risen tenfold today."
Another shop assistant unfortunately lost his money. Due to the high price of buying graphics cards, the income from "mining" cannot cover the cost. "Don't sell, don't lose. You will definitely go back and earn it. "
When further inquiring about the state's policy supervision on "mining", the person in charge of the above-mentioned stores promised to be legal, formal and unattended, and even said that "mining" was recognized in the new legal provisions.
In fact, on the contrary, in February this year, Inner Mongolia issued "Several Safeguard Measures (Draft for Comment) on Ensuring the Completion of the Target and Task of Double Control of Energy Consumption during the Tenth Five-Year Plan", which mentioned speeding up the elimination and elimination of backward excess capacity, including "iron and steel, titanium alloy, calcium carbide, coke, graphite electrode, thermal power and virtual currency mining". Similar policies and regulations around the country are also brewing or being introduced.
In order to sell graphics cards and "mining" services as much as possible, the seller spared no effort to draw an unreal pie for some unprofessional customers who were eager to make a fortune. Moreover, in order to attract more people, this pie is still expanding.
Speculators in Huaqiang North have also created a way of "getting on the bus" with a lower threshold, and dug up a counterfeit currency named "Qiya Coin" with a hard disk.
From June 5438 to June 2020 10, the price of a single ethereum was less than 1000 yuan, and the price of a single RTX3060 graphics card was less than 2,000 yuan. In May of 202 1, the price of a single Ethereum has reached 27,000 yuan. The price of RTX3060 graphics card has tripled, and the price of RTX3070, which is regarded as the most cost-effective by miners, has exceeded 10,000 yuan.
Graphics card mining has become a game for big players, and the space for small and medium-sized players is shrinking. In April this year, NVIDIA announced that it would eliminate the possibility of "mining" graphics cards from the hardware level. Under the influence of policy, technology and cost factors, the threshold of video card "mining" is getting higher and higher, and the risk is getting bigger and bigger.
In this case, the combination of "Chia-coin-hard disk" appeared in Huaqiang North. Many shops directly hang out the house number of "kiya" and train onlookers to "open fields and mine" on the spot.
If "Graphics Card-Ethereum" is the substitute of "Mining Machine-Bitcoin", then "Hard Disk-Chia Coin" is the substitute of "Graphics Card-Ethereum".
Compared with "graphics card mining", "hard disk mining" has low noise and low power consumption. After the computer runs, the "mining" program uses the free space of the hard disk to erase data repeatedly and generate virtual tokens.
This kind of shop usually calls itself "specializing in Chia computing services". New words such as "cloud computing capability" have replaced old words such as "graphics card" and become its marketing means. Some sellers even promised to help buyers use the computing power of Alibaba Cloud, Huawei Cloud and Tencent Cloud to access the mine pool for "mining".
Because of user privacy protection, cloud vendors can't check the "mining" behavior in some cases. However, cloud vendors are trying to curb mining through technical means. Once the excavation process is discovered, they will directly warn and stop the service.
Like video cards, the price of hard disks soared and the story of sellers out of stock was being staged again. Take the HC320 6T hard disk of Western Digital as an example. In 2020, the price was only 1000 yuan, and this year the price has already exceeded 2,000 yuan.
The office building is still brightly lit, and large and small "mining" companies continue to operate here, and some offices even gather more than a dozen people to stop.
In the virtual token market, "* * * knowledge mechanism" is regarded as an important driving force to continuously push up prices. Whether playing with coins, selling "mines" or professional "miners", they all say, "If you believe it, it will go up. If you don't believe it, how can it go up? "
"The currency price has risen so well, and the industry is thriving, and everyone is happy. Why do you care so much? This is a worldwide and revolutionary change. "