$2.7B worth of electricity spent on US Bitcoin mining in 2024 — analyst

Miners’ profitability were slashed after the Bitcoin Halving event in April dropped rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per block.

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

“Since the start of 2024, Bitcoin mining in the U.S. has consumed an enormous 20,822.62 GWh of electric power,” said Paul Hoffman, analyst at Best Brokers. “At the average commercial electricity rate of $0.1281 per kWh as of February, this amounts to an expenditure of $2,667,378,196.47.”

Hoffman further explained that, “This amount of energy could charge every electric vehicle in the U.S. 87.52 times or power 1,983,107 households for a year, which is 1.51% of all U.S. households.”

Globally, 116,550 Bitcoin (BTC), worth $8.2 billion, has been mined year to date, with U.S. 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-hour (kWh), costing around $52,144.26. Since then, 862,635.55 kWh of power are now needed to mine 1 BTC, costing around $110,503.61 at average commercial rates.

Despite their high energy usage, Bitcoin mining is currently the only primary global industry powered mainly through sustainable energy. In January, The Bitcoin ESG Forecast revealed that sustainable energy use in Bitcoin mining has increased to a new all-time high of 54.5%, with sustainable mining rising by 3.6% overall during 2023.

After the ban on mining in China and its effective prohibition in Kazakhstan, miners have predominantly moved to greener grids in North America or sustainable off-grid sites. Roughly 19.5 million Bitcoin has been mined  supply of 21 million. 

Related: Public Bitcoin miners secured $2B in financing ahead of halving