Bitcoin relies on the participation of people and organizations to act as the “bankers” of the system. Called Bitcoin miners, they effectively record each transaction on a ledger called the Blockchain and in return, they are awarded with bitcoins. The process of mining is to do a series of calculations to discover a specific number, and the first one to do so gets the reward of 25 bitcoins (valued at approximately $10,500).
In order to increase their chances, Bitcoin miners have large numbers of computers with specialized hardware that consume significant amounts of electricity. The entire Bitcoin system has been estimated to use about 350 Megawatts of electricity which is the same demand as 280,000 U.S. homes.
For miners, electricity usage is the majority of the cost of producing bitcoins and this is why China, with its relatively low energy costs, has become the country of choice for this type of operation.