The energy used by Iceland's Bitcoin (EXANTE: Bitcoin) mining market is experiencing "exponential growth," and data centers may use more energy than all of the country's homes in 2018, The Associated Press reports.
Iceland's cool weather, cheap energy and super-fast networks have made the country a popular home for bitcoin mining.
Johann Snorri Sigurbergsson, a business development manager at the energy company Hitaveita Sudurnesja, is worried that they won't have enough energy" to power numerous new data centers that have been proposed.
"If all these projects are realised, we won't have enough energy for it," he told the BBC.
The rise of crypto mining in the country has prompted government members to consider steps to tax the industry.
Lawmaker Smari McCarthy of Iceland’s Pirate Party to suggest taxing the profits of Bitcoin mines.
“Under normal circumstances, companies that are creating value in Iceland pay a certain amount of tax to the government,” McCarthy told The Associated Press.
“These companies are not doing that, and we might want to ask ourselves whether they should,” he added.
According to Sigurbergsson, Bitcoin mining in Iceland annually consumes around 840 gigawatt hours of electricity in powering computers and cooling systems, while the country’s households use about 700 gigawatt hours.