AMD’s Radeon GPUs are rare because they’re good at mining bitcoin copycats

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies may enable online threats like ransomware to spread, but they are also fueling demand for powerful and efficient new graphics cards.

It’s difficult to find an RX 500-series Radeon graphics card at retail or online right now in part because people are seeking them out to mine certain bitcoin-like cryptocurrencies, chip manufacturer AMD explained to CNBC. In April, AMD released its latest round of Polaris-powered GPUs which can render graphically intensive scenes without drawing excessive amounts of power. That combination of number-crunching capabilities and energy efficiency has attracted consumers who want to “mine” altcoin cryptocurrencies, which are alternatives to bitcoin.