crypto currency mining, 'ethereum' is the latest craze, prices have gone through the roof since the start of the year.
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/12/ethereum-price-hits-record-high-after-bitcoin.html
up 5000% since the start of the year.
Here's the ultra simple version as I understand it. Basically anyone who can put together a computer can get in on it, you plug your computer into a network using regular internet and let it do calculations to 'mine' these 'coins' that are worth real world money. With etherium, it is the graphics processing units that do the bulk of the computing so people are rigging up a bunch of graphics cards are trying to make a buck, stuff like this:
View attachment 411099
some people are running 'farms' with hundreds of these things:
View attachment 411100
this craze has caused a severe supply drought in what is traditionally a gaming/pc enthusiast market for these components and prices have skyrocketed for the most popular GPUs.
Basically if you want to build a gaming PC, either spend 700$+ on a real high end card or go entry level, and as supply goes down and prices rise for the best hardware to mine, people are now picking up whatever they can to get a farm/mining rig online. The million $ buyer who bought up everything at your local retailer is probably going for something like the farm pic.
I'm conflicted on it, it's cool that nerds can make money but real gamers are getting shafted pretty badly.