Investing.com - With reports that China is cracking down on Bitcoin miners, there's plenty of speculation about what country could pick up the slack.
A lot depends on the cost of electricity because bitcoin mining uses an enormous amount of energy.
So, low-cost electricity, which China has plenty of, is essential to keep mining costs low and profits high.
Based on a recent study, there's just a few countries where it would be cheaper than China for bitcoin mining.
The cheapest by far is Venezuela, according to the study by Elite Fixtures.
The study estimated the cost of mining one bitcoin in 115 countries based on their electricity costs.
Venezuela's was $531, compared to China's $3,172. Others with lower costs are Bangladesh, Belarus, Paraguay, Serbia and Trinidad & Tobago. The most expensive is South Korea at $26,170 per coin. The U.S. cost is $4,675.
Calculations for the amount of energy consumed were based on the average usage of three popular types of mining equipment: the AntMiner S7, the AntMiner S9 and the Avalon