A lot of it.In the virtual currency world this creation process is called "mining." "The electricity usage is really essential," said Peter Van Valkenburgh, the director of research at Coin Center , a group that advocates for virtual currency technology. The goal was to distribute new coins to people on the Bitcoin network without a central institution handing out the money.Early on, it was possible to win the contest with just a laptop computer. "Labeling bitcoin mining as a 'waste' is a failure to look at the big picture," Marc Bevand, a miner and analyst, wrote on his blog. But is that difference really worth the additional energy cost?

Source: Economic Times January 22, 2018 04:18 UTC