PANews reported on January 1 that according to Forbes, as of December 2024, Africa currently accounts for 3% of the global Bitcoin mining hash rate, with Ethiopia alone contributing 2.5% of the output, more than double the output of the entire African continent in 2023, and entirely through renewable energy. According to the Ethiopian Electric Power Company (EEP), Ethiopia has earned more than $55 million from the sale of electricity for Bitcoin mining this year alone, accounting for 18% of its total revenue.
Following Ethiopia’s approval of Bitcoin mining earlier this year, local Bitcoin mining operations have grown significantly, with spending on mining infrastructure reportedly exceeding $1 billion by 2024, and other countries such as Kenya have joined the ranks of African countries keen to use Bitcoin mining to promote economic growth, electrify communities, and manage green energy projects. Africa is a popular location for global Bitcoin miners because it has some of the cheapest green energy in the world, with prices of 3.2 cents per kilowatt-hour in Ethiopia, for example.
