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Bitcoin mining uses more electricity than New Zealand

Bitcoin price moving too fast in 2019

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TL;DR

In a research report titled “Trends, Composition, Average Creation Cost, Electricity Consumption & Sources”, investment firm CoinShares states that Bitcoin mining is using up more electricity than the whole of New Zealand.

The calculations done by CoinShares reveal that there is a considerable spike in electricity consumption for Bitcoin mining, since their previous research project in November 2018.

According to the report, currently, hashing operations consume more than 4.3 gigawatts of electricity per second, which represents an increase of around 0.4 gigawatts for only several months.

The current population of New Zealand is close to five million people, and they only manage to consume about ninety-five per cent (95%) of the electricity used for Bitcoin mining worldwide.

Of course, this enormous consumption of electricity is justified by the rising price of the Bitcoin token in recent months. CoinShares predicts that the trend for increasing use will continue as long as the price of one Bitcoin continues to rise.

According to the report, China remains the number one power in terms of hash mining facilities, with Sichuan being the biggest producer of BTC tokens. The concentration of mining facilities in the area is due to a large number of hydro-power plants, which makes the electricity there cheaper.

The latest estimates by CoinShares reveal that the Bitcoin mining industry is worth more than five billion dollars (USD5.2bn) in yearly returns. This is not a surprise as it takes around five thousand dollars (USD5,000) worth of equipment and electricity to mine one Bitcoin, while the value of the coin is currently circling the eight thousand dollars (USD8,000) mark.

With such returns, the mining industry is expected to grow further, as long as the price of the coin remains above the cost for mining one BTC.

 

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Tina Yordanova

Back from her stint with European Central Bank, Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Societe Generale, Hilton Hotels, and Aviva International, Tina rejoins Cryptopolitan with a deeper insight regarding the financial world, blockchain enterprises and institutions and practices involved in it. She is eager to share her rounded perspective honed from the biggest media analysis companies on the Balkans.

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