Crypto mining - statistics & facts
According to IP addresses from people that used particular Bitcoin mining pools - or platforms that work together to mine cryptocurrencies - in 2020, the countries that mine the most Bitcoin are closely related to cheap energy prices. The cheapest electricity in the world, for instance, was three cents per kWh, while the cost of electricity in German was nearly 13 times higher. This matters for cryptomining. Essentially, mining involves verifying blocks of transactions on the blockchain. Verification is done by computers that solve logic puzzles in pursuit of a number - a "nonce". This process preferably requires "hashing" or computing power: more power potentially equals more cryptocurrency - the reward of this verification process. Mining, however, does not come cheap: Bitcoin energy consumption was the size of a small country in 2021. Mining cryptocurrencies can potentially be profitable for some, but it is a power-hungry process. Additionally, the required power can also go up.
