Mining digital currencies requires so much electrical power that it has stressed the capacity of one Washington county

CNBC reports Cryptocurrency Mining Puts Electrical Grid of Small Washington State County ‘to the Test’.

“Our infrastructure is actually being put to the test. We’re full,” Ron Cridlebaugh, the Port of Douglas County economic development manager, told CNBC’s Michelle Caruso-Cabrera on Thursday.

Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ripple have skyrocketed in value recently. Last year, those digital currencies surged 1,500 percent and 35,000 percent, respectively.

People have been trying to get in on the action by purchasing these digital assets or by “mining,” or creating, them. But the mining process requires a lot of electrical power as computers process gargantuan amounts of data.

Cridlebaugh said the county is building out 100 megawatts (100,000 kilowatts) of infrastructure just in data centers to keep up with demand. “It’s going to take some time to catch up because growth has been so quick.”

How Much Electricity?

Fortune says Bitcoin Miners on Track to Use More Electricity Than All of Argentina.

Business Insider says the electricity used to mine bitcoin this year is bigger than the annual usage of 159 countries.

Fortune says Bitcoin Consumes 30 Times More Electricity than Tesla Cars.

Really?

A CNBC report says No, bitcoin isn’t likely to consume all the world’s electricity in 2020.