⁠2024: USD 2.7B was spent on #Electricidad for #Mineria of BTC in the US

Miner profitability dropped sharply after the Bitcoin halving event in April reduced rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per block

US Bitcoin miners spent $2.7 billion on electricity in the first few months of 2024.

"Since the beginning of 2024, mining in the United States has consumed a whopping 20,822.62 GWh of electrical energy," said Paul Hoffman, an analyst at Best Brokers. "At the average commercial electricity rate of USD 0.1281 per kWh in February, this equates to an expense of USD 2,667,378,196.47." Hoffman further explained that "this amount of energy could charge every electric vehicle in the US 87.52 times or power 1,983,107 homes for a year, representing 1.51% of all US homes."

Globally, 116,550 Bitcoin $BTC worth $8.2 billion have been mined to date, with US miners accounting for 44,102 BTC or 37.84% of global production. Before the halving event in April, the electricity needed to mine 1 BTC was 407,059.01 kilowatt-hours (kWh), which cost around USD 52,144.26. Since then, it now takes 862,635.55 kWh of energy to mine 1 BTC, which costs around $110,503.61 at average trading rates.

Despite its high energy consumption, mining is currently the only global industry driven primarily by sustainable energy. In January, The Bitcoin ESG Forecast revealed that sustainable energy use in Bitcoin mining has risen to a new all-time high of 54.5%, and sustainable mining is up 3.6% overall during 2023.

Following the mining ban in China and its ban in Kazakhstan, miners have predominantly moved to greener grids in North America or sustainable off-grid sites. Approximately 19.5 million Bitcoins have been mined out of the maximum 21 million.