Many crypto miners are shutting off rigs and plan to sell their GPUs, as GPU-based mining for most cryptocurrencies becomes unprofitable after Ethereum’s Merge (Michael Kan/PCMag)

David Pan / Bloomberg:
Ethermine, the largest Ethereum mining firm, will shut down its servers for miners after Ethereum’s Merge, switching its mining pool to withdraw-only mode  —  Ethermine, the largest Ethereum mining services provider by computing power, will shut down its servers for miners after the blockchain completes its historic technical upgrade.

Paul Vigna / Wall Street Journal:
The most efficient bitcoin mining machines are selling for ~$24 per 100 terahashes, down from $106 in 2021, as unprofitable miners are forced to sell equipment  —  Unprofitable miners have become forced sellers of their own crypto equipment  —  There’s a fire sale on bitcoin-mining hardware.

Michael Kan / PCMag:
Ookla says download and upload speeds for SpaceX’s Starlink have seen a sharp drop from Q1 to Q2 globally, amid network congestion due to soaring popularity  —  Median download speeds for Starlink users in the US reached only 62.53Mbps during the second quarter, a significant decrease from 90.55Mbps in Q1, according to Ookla.

David Pan / Bloomberg:
As crypto miners default on loans, lenders could receive mining equipment as collateral, a popular financing tool, increasing losses as the rigs’ value plunges  —  Beleaguered crypto lenders are being dealt another blow from Bitcoin miners as they weather the aftermath of the FTX collapse.

Mike Truppa / The Block:
Ethereum activates its long-awaited The Merge upgrade and transactions are now being processed under proof of stake  —  – The Merge upgrade is transitioning Ethereum from proof of work to proof of stake.  — The Merge is one of the largest technological events in the industry to date.

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft says Xbox Game Pass is profitable and accounts for ~15% of Xbox content and services revenue, after revealing PC Game Pass subscriptions rose 159% YoY  —  Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has revealed that the company’s Xbox Game Pass subscription service is already profitable.