Iceland, according to an Icelandic energy expert, may soon use more electricity to extract bitcoins than it uses to power each home. The energy used by the Icelandic bitcoin mining market is experiencing an "exponential growth" and the data centers, in 2018, could use more energy than all the houses in the country, told the BBC Johann Snorri Sigurbergsson of the Icelandic energy company HS Orka. Sigurbergsson also added that HS Orka "will not have enough energy" to power the many new data centers that have been planned.
Sigurbergsson told the BBC that he estimates that Icelandic bitcoin mining instruments currently consume around 840 gigawatt hours of electricity to power computers and cooling systems each year, while most of the country's homes consume around 700 gigawatt hours.
Bitcoin mining thrives in Iceland, where energy is cheap and Internet connections use super-fast fiber-optic networks.
Furthermore, Iceland's cold weather plays an important role in ensuring that the tools used by cryptocurrencies do not overheat. "Mining" hardware generates large amounts of heat and Iceland's cold climate throughout the year saves companies additional temperature control costs.
But the centers still use huge amounts of electricity.
Genesis Mining, one of the largest cryptocurrent extractors in Iceland, has opened three mining plants in Iceland and in 2016 CEO Marco Streng has speculated that the company could be one of the largest single electricity users in the country.
The rise of cryptocurrency extraction in the country has prompted members of the government to consider measures to tax the sector.
"Under normal circumstances, companies that create wealth in Iceland pay a certain amount of taxes to the government," said Smari McCarthy, member of the Icelandic Pirate Party, to the Associated Press. "These companies do not pay taxes and we should ask ourselves if they should."
What do you think about it?
Musclenerd :)