Digiconomist is committed to promoting (the development of) sustainable blockchain technology. Blockchain protocols such as Bitcoin currently run on the energy-slurping proof-of-work algorithm (creating these proofs of work is better known as “mining”). The Bitcoin Energy Consumption index is a key tool that was created to provide insight into this energy consumption amount, and raise awareness on the environmental damage caused of the proof-of-work algorithm. This page uses historical data from the Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index to summarise the sustainability progress and performance of the Bitcoin protocol over the past month.
For a daily estimate of Bitcoin’s energy consumption make sure to visit the Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index.
Monthly Changes
The highlights of the past month are as follows:
| Description | Value | Monthly change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mining Revenue | For December 2019 | ||
| Average Bitcoin Price | $7,248 | -13.03% |  |
| Average Price Volatility | 39.99% | -35.70% | |
| Mining Revenue from Fees | $2,954,890 | -63.50% | |
| Mining Revenue from Blocks Mined | $412,609,729 | -11.50% | |
| Total Mining Revenue | $415,564,619 | -12.39% | |
| Mining Costs | |||
| Total Costs of Mining | $310,515,795 | 3.33% |  |
| Percentage of Total Revenue | 74.72% | 17.94% | |
| Total KWh Consumed | 6,210,315,898 | 3.33% | |
| Network Statistics | |||
| Total Transactions Processed | 9,380,431 | 1.20% |  |
| Average KWh Consumed per TX | 662 | 2.16% | |
| Average Fee per Transaction | $0.32 | -63.22% | |
| Energy cost per TX (at 5 cents per KWh) | $33.10 | 2.16% | |
| Average Network Hashrate (GH/s) | 95,202,468,869 | 3.95% | |
| Average Network Effciency (J/GH) | 0.09 | -3.73% | |
| Bounds | |||
| Economic Maximum KWh Consumed | 8,311,292,384 | -12.39% | |
| Technical Minimum KWh Consumed | 3,816,279,169 | 7.34% | |
Year-to-Date Sustainability Performance
Apart from the changes in monthly performance, numbers on the current year to date (YTD) performance are found in the following table.
| Description | YTD Current | YTD Previous | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mining Revenue | For 2019 | For 2018 | numbers up to December |
| Average Bitcoin Price | $7,362 | $7,481 | -1.59% |
| Average Price Volatility | 54.09% | 63.63% | -14.99% |
| Mining Revenue from Fees | $154,113,235 | $255,886,013 | -39.77% |
| Mining Revenue from Blocks Mined | $5,132,268,696 | $5,724,164,433 | -10.34% |
| Total Mining Revenue | $5,286,381,931 | $5,980,050,447 | -11.60% |
| Mining Costs | |||
| Total Costs of Mining | $3,188,438,071 | $3,096,730,875 | 2.96% |
| Percentage of Total Revenue | 60.31% | 51.78% | 16.47% |
| Total KWh Consumed | 63,956,414,937 | 61,943,088,201 | 3.25% |
| Network Statistics | |||
| Total Transactions Processed | 119,744,128 | 79,873,058 | 49.92% |
| Average KWh Consumed per TX | 534 | 776 | -31.19% |
| Average Fee per Transaction | $1.29 | $3.20 | -59.69% |
| Energy cost per TX (at 5 cents per KWh) | $26.70 | $38.80 | -31.19% |
| Average Network Hashrate (GH/s) | 132,121,533,180 | 73,087,764,094 | 80.77% |
| Average Network Effciency (J/GH) | 0.06 | 0.10 | -42.81% |
| Bounds | |||
| Economic Maximum KWh Consumed | 105,727,638,625 | 119,601,008,933 | -11.60% |
| Technical Minimum KWh Consumed | 62,328,262,221 | 34,521,719,362 | 80.55% |
Annual Performance
Year-end performance is available in the table below as of 2017 (the year in which the Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index was launched).
| Description | 2018 | 2017 | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mining Revenue | |||
| Average Bitcoin Price | $7,559 | $4,375 | 72.78% |
| Average Price Volatility | 64.38% | 66.78% | -3.59% |
| Mining Revenue from Fees | $291,320,194 | $541,679,741 | -46.22% |
| Mining Revenue from Blocks Mined | $5,854,222,152 | $2,911,553,352 | 101.07% |
| Total Mining Revenue | $6,145,542,346 | $3,453,233,093 | 77.96% |
| Mining Costs | |||
| Total Costs of Mining | $3,117,068,023 | $776,532,329 | 301.41% |
| Percentage of Total Revenue | 50.72% | 22.49% | 125.55% |
| Total KWh Consumed | 62,349,831,163 | 15,530,646,590 | 301.46% |
| Network Statistics | |||
| Total Transactions Processed | 81,147,382 | 92,167,146 | -11.96% |
| Average KWh Consumed per TX | 768 | 169 | 354.44% |
| Average Fee per Transaction | $3.59 | $5.88 | -38.95% |
| Energy cost per TX (at 5 cents per KWh) | $38.40 | $8.45 | 354.44% |
| Average Network Hashrate (GH/s) | 39,983,103,533 | 7,288,177,479 | 448.60% |
| Average Network Effciency (J/GH) | 0.18 | 0.24 | -26.84% |
| Bounds | |||
| Economic Maximum KWh Consumed | 122,910,846,910 | 69,064,661,866 | 77.96% |
| Technical Minimum KWh Consumed | 40,416,917,349 | 7,365,382,998 | 448.74% |