These bizarre cryptocurrency stock images almost make us forget the GPU shortage. Almost

(Image credit: Gerd Altmann, Pixabay)

When GPU shortages finally abated back in 2018, I thought I was done trawling the web for the latest happenings in the world of cryptocurrency. Little did I know, come 2021, I'd be once again forced into caring about crypto.

These digital coins are back in fashion, more valuable than ever, and again causing grief for gamers hoping to snag a new graphics card. It's not entirely crypto's fault, I'll admit, but it's all come at a bit of a bad time for global technology supply—demand is through the roof, no matter what you intend to do with your new GPU.

But there is one silver lining in all of this: We get to use the increasingly bizarre and strange stock images available for free across the web in our stories. And since we have to experience this, so too do you.

There's truly nothing quite like the mix of Matrix-style, testosterone-pumping, digi-gold rush imagery available to you free-of-charge on the web to help illustrate the inner workings of blockchain technology.

Here are my favourites from free image library Pixabay, in descending order of weirdness.

A jar of 3D bitcoins with a plant growing out of it — Image by 3D Animation Production Company, Pixabay (Image credit: 3D Animation Production Company, Pixabay)

I'm assuming this signifies the sprouting of a cryptocurrency as a sort-of digital nest egg.

Two grey people embracing due to mining bitcoins — Peggy and Marco Lachmann-Anke, Pixabay (Image credit: Peggy and Marco Lachmann-Anke, Pixabay)

This image comes from a series covering the escapades of these two grey figures as they hope to mine Bitcoin the ol' fashioned way.

Spoiler alert: They manage to snag themselves two bitcoin. Now worth over $100,000.

A hooded figure holding a fake bitcoin — Image by Tumisu, Pixabay (Image credit: Tumisu, Pixabay)

This is classic old-school Bitcoin, if you ask me. Real dark web vibes. Three out of five stars.

A woman taking a picture of a bitcoin on her phone in a classroom — Image by Марина Вельможко, Pixabay (Image credit: Марина Вельможко, Pixabay)

Imagine if there was a physical bitcoin and it was the size of those commemorative £5 coins you got as a kid (for those of us in the UK).

At £35,000 a pop, a Bitcoin would be an absolute nightmare for cashiers, too.

A Bitcoin logo on a backdrop of the novel coronavirus

Image by Gerd Altmann, Pixabay. (Image credit: Gerd Altmann, Pixabay)

What's the connection between Bitcoin and the novel coronavirus?

No, that's a genuine question. Please, somebody tell me.

A fake bitcoin laid on some amethyst crystals — Image by Eugenio Cuppone, Pixabay (Image credit: Eugenio Cuppone, Pixabay)

If there's one thing that springs to mind when I think Bitcoin, it's alternative medicine.

A sentient Bitcoin doing a strong man pose — Image by Gerd Altmann, Pixabay. (Image credit: Gerd Altmann, Pixabay)

Sentient Bitcoin no love, only flex.

A bunch of bitcoin in a noose. — Image by Bitcoin-schweiz, Pixabay (Image credit: Bitcoin-schweiz, Pixabay)

Very poignant piece, this.

A clown juggling fake Bitcoins — Image by Julien Tromeur, Pixabay (Image credit: Julien Tromeur, Pixabay)

Bitcoin: The only currency trusted by clowns.

A man dressed up as a wizard casting a bitcoin spell — Image by Aaron Olson, Pixabay. (Image credit: Aaron Olson, Pixabay)

Elon Musk eat your heart out.

Jacob earned his first byline writing for his own tech blog from his hometown in Wales in 2017. From there, he graduated to professionally breaking things as hardware writer at PCGamesN, where he would later win command of the kit cupboard as hardware editor. Nowadays, as senior hardware editor at PC Gamer, he spends his days reporting on the latest developments in the technology and gaming industry. When he's not writing about GPUs and CPUs, however, you'll find him trying to get as far away from the modern world as possible by wild camping.