Bitcoin miners moved from China to the United States. Electricity consumption is close to gold

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Following the ban on cryptocurrencies in China, the United States is now the largest producer of Bitcoin with more than a third. China allowed only the state cryptocurrency – digital jüan. Bitcoin consumption is already close to the energy spent on gold mining, which is estimated at 131 TWh per year.

In China, 75% of all Bitcoins were mined. The Communist government, or the People’s Bank of China, banned all financial transactions related to Bitcoins in addition to mining, and China thus virtually disappeared from the cryptocurrency market. The miners moved to other countries, especially the United States, but also to nearby Kazakhstan and Russia. It is the United States that is now first in the rankings with a 35% share, while the hashrate is even higher.

According to the Cambridge rankings, the annual consumption of Bitcoin is close to the consumption for gold mining. In a ranking comparing Bitcoin consumption with national consumption, the cryptocurrency will soon be overtaken by the Netherlands at 104 TWh per year.

More: China is a large bitcoin mine. Now he wants to ban mining in his province

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It is estimated that around 900 Bitcoins are mined every day, the total number of which is determined by the algorithm at 21 million. However, a number of digital coins are probably lost forever, so there will be a little less in circulation in the end.

As mining slowed in China, the US share doubled and in Kazakhstan it rose even more from 8% to 18%. And it is in this Central Asian country that there is a shortage of electricity. However, instead of restrictions, the local government is preparing a special crypto-tax from next year. Electricity in the country is very cheap, which attracts miners.

For each kilowatt destined for Bitcoin mining, $ 0.00233 is to be paid (equivalent to one tenge, which is the local currency). As a result, it plans billions in revenue to the budget. So if their power plants can handle it at all.

source: tomshardware, cbeci.org