CRYPTOCURRENCIES
Demand for digital mining hardware drops
Following the selloff of bitcoin and other digital coins, demand for cryptocurrency mining equipment has tapered off in SA, sales data suggest. "I can confirm that all mining product sales are under pressure. Sales volumes are less than 50% from the previous month," Mustek CEO David Kan told Business Day. Mustek, an assembler and distributor of information technology products, said in February it was struggling to keep abreast of strong demand for cryptocurrency mining equipment in SA. It had seen a "phenomenal rise" in graphics processing unit (GPU) sales owing to "intense interest in cryptocurrency mining by the public". Cryptocurrency mining is the process whereby transactions are added to the public ledger and the method through which new bitcoins, ethereum and other digital currencies are released into the market. "Two weeks ago, we got an allocation of 500 GPU units [from a supplier]. Within 20 minutes, all 500 were sold. The demand is certainly there," Kan said in late Februa...
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