Carbon-encapsulated Ni catalysts are synthesized by an electrical explosion of wires (EEW) method and applied for CO2 methanation. We find that the presence of carbon shell on Ni nanoparticles as catalyst can positively affect CO2 methanation reaction. Ni@5C that is produced under 5% CH4 partial pressure in Ar gas has highest conversions of 68 % at 350 oC and 70% at 400 oC, which are 73 and 75% of the thermodynamic equilibrium conversion, respectively. The catalyst of Ni@10C with thicker carbon layer shows much reduced activity. The EEW-produced Ni catalysts with low specific surface area outperform Ni catalysts with high surface area synthesized by solution-based precipitation methods. Our finding in this study shows the possibility of utilizing carbon-encapsulated metal catalysts for heterogeneous catalysis reaction including CO2 methanation. Furthermore, EEW, which is a highly promising method for massive production of metal nanoparticles, can be applied for various catalysis system, requiring scaled-up synthesis of catalysts.