Cryptocurrency mining has been a major factor in why graphics card prices have been so high for the past year. It's not the only reason, but it's been a big one, and unfortunately, it looks like that problem might extend to processors next. An altcoin known as Raptoreum was designed to avoid the ASIC arms race that currencies like Bitcoin and Litecoin deal with, and instead use the cache of processors for its mining actions. That makes AMD Ryzen 3000 and 5000 processors the perfect fit for this currency.
Just as CPU prices were starting to fall in the wake of Intel's new Alder Lake dominance, Raptoreum might be set to send them sky high again. There are already reports that a return on investment of multiple 3rd and 5th generation CPUs, especially the high end models and Threadripper CPUs can be accrued in just over 9 months, suggesting that it would be well worth it for anyone already in the business of mining, or who has a number of decent CPUs lying around, to make a quick buck over the coming years using these powerful processors.
CPUs now join the likes of GPUs, SSDs, and even routers, in providing some kind of return on investment if wanted, which isn't a bad thing on the surface, but what it leads to is increased demand at higher prices, because miners are willing to pay to profit. That leaves gamers struggling to get the hardware they want at a reasonable price. That's been the case for a couple of years with GPUs, and now it may happen to CPUs too.
If you're waiting on a 3D VCache Ryzen CPU in early 2022, get ready to jump on it fast, as they should sell out exceedingly fast with not only the gaming hype, but also the new pressure from Raptoreum mining.