Bitcoin to use 0.5% of world’s power by year-end: Study

Bitcoin could consume 7.7 gigawatts or about 0.5% of the world’s total electricity by 2018-end, according to a study by Digiconomist founder Alex de Vries. The study estimated bitcoin network’s minimum energy consumption was 2.55 gigawatts,as mich as Ireland. If bitcoin miners were a country, they would currently rank 42nd in terms of energy consumption,according to Didiconomist.

HOW IS BITCOIN MINED?

Tech-savvy users called "miners" use their computers to make complex calculations that verify transactions in bitcoins. This so-called blockchain is a global running tally of every bitcoin transaction. The miners receive bitcoins in exchange according to a set of established rules. In this way, the bitcoin network harnesses individuals' greed for the collective good.
NiceHash, the company that got hacked, made a business from matching people with spare computing power to those wanting to mine bitcoin.