Study: Over 74% of Bitcoin Mining is Powered by Renewable Energy

The report also says that 'at current prices, the average miner is very lucrative, with even older machines and high-cost producers currently able to make a positive return on investment." the paper also notes that bitcoin mining transactions are concentrated where there is sufficient supply of renewable energy. Yet the report also points out:

"The renewable energy estimate is down from 77.8% in our November 2018 report and reflects our increased industry visibility and movement within the industry."

The correlation between bitcoin mining and renewable energy would make bitcoin mining "more focused on renewable energies than almost every other large-scale industry in the world." The report also notes that since last November, the network's total hashrate has increased from 40 quintillion hash per second (H/s) to 50 H/s.

This means that over this period, the growth in computing power invested in maintaining the system has been slower than its 10-year average, but in line with the five-year average.

The report also points out that the temporary decrease in hashrate (of about 40%) registered at the end of last year was the first registered instance in which there has been a major and prolonged decrease in the network’s computing power.

CoinShares believes that the recent increase in bitcoin’s hashrate is caused by old mining hardware being powered on again after the higher price rendered them profitable to run, and the deployment of next-generation, more efficient, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs).

As Cointelegraph reported in May, Canadian bitcoin mining company Hut 8 generated close to $50 million in revenue last year, but lost nearly $140 million in total. The company's chief operating officer, Andrew Kiguel, pointed out at the time that he believes that margins will improve if the price of the BTC continues to rise.

Also in March, cryptocurrency mining giant Bitmain was reportedly planning to set up 200,000 units of mining equipment in China to benefit from low-cost hydroelectric power in the country.