Bitcoin Historic Sustainability Performance

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:

DescriptionValueMonthly changeTrend
Mining RevenueFor February 2024
Average Bitcoin Price$49,64115.65%
Average Price Volatility32.65%-9.36%
Mining Revenue from Fees$64,815,879-53.85%
Mining Revenue from Blocks Mined$1,332,354,5347.31%
Total Mining Revenue$1,397,170,4131.09%
Mining Costs
Total Costs of Mining$555,980,750-4.91%
Percentage of Total Revenue39.79%-5.94%
Total KWh Consumed11,119,614,998-6.27%
Network Statistics
Total Transactions Processed9,942,740-33.63%
Average KWh Consumed per TX1,11841.16%
Average Fee per Transaction$6.52-30.49%
Energy cost per TX (at 5 cents per KWh)$55.9041.16%
Average Network Hashrate (GH/s)574,359,867,5739.61%
Average Network Effciency (J/GH)0.03-8.55%
Bounds
Economic Maximum KWh Consumed27,943,408,2581.09%
Technical Minimum KWh Consumed7,809,729,5982.49%

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.

DescriptionYTD CurrentYTD PreviousYoY Change
Mining RevenueFor 2024For 2023numbers up to February
Average Bitcoin Price$46,169$21,646113.29%
Average Price Volatility34.39%35.10%-2.02%
Mining Revenue from Fees$205,275,652$20,727,677890.35%
Mining Revenue from Blocks Mined$2,573,949,107$1,140,741,824125.64%
Total Mining Revenue$2,779,224,758$1,161,469,500139.29%
Mining Costs
Total Costs of Mining$1,140,663,129$577,355,92797.57%
Percentage of Total Revenue41.04%49.71%-17.43%
Total KWh Consumed22,983,439,82512,879,079,14778.46%
Network Statistics
Total Transactions Processed24,923,69516,771,47048.61%
Average KWh Consumed per TX92276820.05%
Average Fee per Transaction$8.24$1.24564.52%
Energy cost per TX (at 5 cents per KWh)$46.10$38.4020.05%
Average Network Hashrate (GH/s)548,344,982,715282,764,807,07693.92%
Average Network Effciency (J/GH)0.030.03-7.91%
Bounds
Economic Maximum KWh Consumed55,584,495,16523,229,390,009139.29%
Technical Minimum KWh Consumed95,150,958,99381,049,377,39317.40%

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).

Description2023202220212020201920182017
Mining Revenue
Average Bitcoin Price$28,848$29,182$47,431$11,054$8,472$7,559$4,375
Average Price Volatility32.67%48.86%63.31%47.35%59.07%64.38%66.78%
Mining Revenue from Fees$768,722,506$142,246,658$957,308,712$151,123,924$146,041,838$291,320,194$541,679,741
Mining Revenue from Blocks Mined$9,674,805,663$9,752,890,417$15,688,420,845$4,647,830,236$4,539,781,369$5,854,222,152$2,911,553,352
Total Mining Revenue$10,443,528,170$9,895,137,075$16,645,729,556$4,798,954,159$4,685,823,207$6,145,542,346$3,453,233,093
Mining Costs
Total Costs of Mining$5,164,057,627$8,057,844,192$6,700,770,948$3,543,503,205$2,628,628,083$3,117,068,023$776,532,329
Percentage of Total Revenue49.45%81.43%40.26%73.84%56.10%50.72%22.49%
Total KWh Consumed108,591,297,292161,243,016,125134,015,418,96770,870,064,10552,572,561,65362,349,831,16315,530,646,590
Network Statistics
Total Transactions Processed151,476,46192,770,75296,670,416113,017,71593,410,28481,147,38292,167,146
Average KWh Consumed per TX7171,7381,386627563768169
Average Fee per Transaction$5.07$1.53$9.90$1.34$1.56$3.59$5.88
Energy cost per TX (at 5 cents per KWh)$35.85$86.90$69.30$31.35$28.15$38.40$8.45
Average Network Hashrate (GH/s)380,585,145,964218,858,998,475146,947,345,705118,556,161,32073,060,732,05339,983,103,5337,288,177,479
Average Network Effciency (J/GH)0.030.080.100.070.080.180.24
Bounds
Economic Maximum KWh Consumed208,870,563,395197,902,741,492332,914,591,13095,979,083,18693,716,464,141122,910,846,91069,064,661,866
Technical Minimum KWh Consumed107,288,660,85665,055,230,26945,695,619,58449,134,536,66843,970,936,23440,416,917,3497,365,382,998
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