Supposing the rumors are true about the hashrates of the new Vega RX 56/64 models coming out this month (up to 100 Mh/s for one card?!), we could be facing some riots in the streets and might have to resort to black-market organized crime rings to obtain them. The way things have been lately, I would not be surprised if there are major shortages resulting in protests, burglary, and televised miner-gamer hardware wars. Whoever is lucky enough to get one at a decent retail price(supposedly $399 and $499 respectively), stands to make a considerable profit on resale, assuming AMD continues to fail to meet the market demand as it has thus far this year. Either that, or make a considerable profit mining.
I am guessing the projected retail price will be available for about 5 minutes, then these cards will be out of circulation for a year or more, unless you are willing to pay double. If Vega can deliver on the promises of the rumors, that is.
The mining community has spawned a new era of GPU addicts, and I am now among them. I, like many others, will be awaiting the August 14 release with my finger on the "buy" button, in hopes to get lucky with the latest super GPU. If those things really can put out 100 Mh/s, however, I think we may be looking at a difficulty bomb across the board, that could make GPU mining really unprofitable after a short period. However, I think that something will arise to fill the demand for mining-based currency. Even though mining is an expensive energy hog, it is extremely popular.
Although the new POS systems are going to offer some nice markets of their own, I think that building mining rigs is not going away any time soon, because it is fun. POS is not going to offer hobby builders the same thrill as a DIY builder putting together a hot-rod computer that is fine-tuned to produce maximum output for minimum input. For that reason, one way or another, there will be some sort of Ethereum to replace Ethereum when the POS comes around, or the difficulty takes GPU ETH mining off the board. At 100 Mh/s per card, it won't take long...
