No, NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3060 Crypto Mining Hash Rate Limiter Hasn't Been Hacked

NVIDIA said that it implemented the hash rate limiter through a combination of BIOS, driver, and hardware modifications, which would "detect specific attributes of the Ethereum cryptocurrency mining algorithm" and cut performance by up to 50 percent. In the real world, CryptoLeo witnessed a roughly 38 percent reduction in Ethereum mining performance with a Zotac GeForce RTX 3060. While CryptoLeo saw his hash rate start at 41.5 MH/s, it quickly started dropping until the GeForce RTX 3060 settled in at around 26 MH/s, making it an unattractive prospect for miners.

However, there was some reason for hope this morning when @I_Leak_VN posted an image to Twitter of an alleged GeForce RTX 3060 mining for Ethereum, unencumbered by a hash rate limiter. With the hash rate limiter allegedly unlocked, a total of eight GeForce RTX 3060 cards were cranking at just over 45 MH/s each (with a combined hash rate of 362.75 MH/s). Although many reports took these findings as fast, some were understandably unconvinced. The fact that the original image was cropped also led many to question the validity of the results. Many claimed that these cards weren't mining for Ethereum but used the Octopus algorithm for the alt-coin Conflux.

@I_Leak_VN was forced to admit that they were wrong about the hash rate limiter being cracked. That's probably disappointing news to those that were optimistic about this early development. Still, we should have known that the GeForce RTX 3060 hasn't been available long enough (and in sufficient enough quantities) to do any extensive testing/cracking of NVIDIA's limiter.

Unfortunately for prospective miners, it appears that NVIDIA's hash rate limiter will be coming to future GeForce RTX cards as well. A recent report suggested that the rumored GeForce RTX 3080 Ti will also be nerfed, with ETH hash rates coming in at just over 50 MH/s.