The rapid ascent reflects a dramatic expansion of mining capacity over the past year. Ethiopia’s computational contribution to the Bitcoin network, measured in exahashes per second, a unit of processing power, climbed to an estimated 27.5 EH/s, up from about 20 EH/s in late 2025 and more than double its output from the previous year.
Much of this growth has been fueled by the country’s abundant renewable energy resources, particularly hydroelectric power from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). The government-owned utility, Ethiopian Electric Power, has harnessed surplus electricity that might otherwise go unused to power energy-intensive mining operations, generating significant income in the process.
Industry analysts say Ethiopia’s relevance on the Bitcoin mining map, historically dominated by the United States, Russia and China, highlights a shifting landscape in which emerging economies with cheap or underutilized energy resources can attract digital-asset investment. The United States remains the largest mining jurisdiction with over 37 percent of the global hashrate, followed by Russia and China.
Ethiopia’s entry into the top 10 highlights both the opportunities and complexities of using renewable energy to support high-demand technologies. While the economic upside is clear, experts caution that long-term infrastructure planning and energy policy will be crucial to balancing mining growth with domestic electricity needs.
Still, for now, Ethiopia’s emergence as a Bitcoin mining hub signals a meaningful shift in the industry’s geography, one that reflects broader changes in where and how digital infrastructure is being built worldwide.
