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 May 2021 | ||
| Average Bitcoin Price | $47,326 | -17.14% |  |
| Average Price Volatility | 65.55% | 33.53% |  |
| Mining Revenue from Fees | $126,358,604 | -39.57% | |
| Mining Revenue from Blocks Mined | $1,326,097,992 | -15.17% | |
| Total Mining Revenue | $1,452,456,596 | -18.05% | |
| Mining Costs | |||
| Total Costs of Mining | $498,569,863 | 20.76% | |
| Percentage of Total Revenue | 34.33% | 47.36% | |
| Total KWh Consumed | 9,971,397,252 | 20.76% | |
| Network Statistics | |||
| Total Transactions Processed | 7,844,185 | -6.80% |  |
| Average KWh Consumed per TX | 1,271 | 29.56% | |
| Average Fee per Transaction | $16.11 | -35.14% | |
| Energy cost per TX (at 5 cents per KWh) | $63.55 | 29.56% | |
| Average Network Hashrate (GH/s) | 181,372,457,575 | 14.41% | |
| Average Network Effciency (J/GH) | 0.07 | 2.21% | |
| Bounds | |||
| Economic Maximum KWh Consumed | 29,049,131,919 | -18.05% | |
| Technical Minimum KWh Consumed | 4,652,791,401 | 18.15% | |
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 2021 | For 2020 | numbers up to May |
| Average Bitcoin Price | $47,957 | $8,240 | 482.00% |
| Average Price Volatility | 72.07% | 60.95% | 18.24% |
| Mining Revenue from Fees | $786,791,674 | $126 | 624116342.85% |
| Mining Revenue from Blocks Mined | $6,626,889,046 | $2,119,544,561 | 212.66% |
| Total Mining Revenue | $7,413,680,720 | $2,119,544,687 | 249.78% |
| Mining Costs | |||
| Total Costs of Mining | $1,894,578,995 | $1,509,888,509 | 25.48% |
| Percentage of Total Revenue | 25.56% | 71.24% | -64.13% |
| Total KWh Consumed | 37,891,579,901 | 30,197,770,181 | 25.48% |
| Network Statistics | |||
| Total Transactions Processed | 44,652,108 | 46,016,068 | -2.96% |
| Average KWh Consumed per TX | 849 | 656 | 29.42% |
| Average Fee per Transaction | $17.62 | $0.00 | #DIV/0! |
| Energy cost per TX (at 5 cents per KWh) | $42.45 | $32.80 | 29.42% |
| Average Network Hashrate (GH/s) | 160,865,707,206 | 108,019,291,597 | 48.92% |
| Average Network Effciency (J/GH) | 0.07 | 0.08 | -15.69% |
| Bounds | |||
| Economic Maximum KWh Consumed | 148,273,614,401 | 42,390,893,742 | 249.78% |
| Technical Minimum KWh Consumed | 51,334,885,708 | 47,622,942,016 | 7.79% |
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 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mining Revenue | ||||
| Average Bitcoin Price | $11,054 | $8,472 | $7,559 | $4,375 |
| Average Price Volatility | 47.35% | 59.07% | 64.38% | 66.78% |
| Mining Revenue from Fees | $151,123,924 | $146,041,838 | $291,320,194 | $541,679,741 |
| Mining Revenue from Blocks Mined | $4,647,830,236 | $4,539,781,369 | $5,854,222,152 | $2,911,553,352 |
| Total Mining Revenue | $4,798,954,159 | $4,685,823,207 | $6,145,542,346 | $3,453,233,093 |
| Mining Costs | ||||
| Total Costs of Mining | $3,543,503,205 | $2,628,628,083 | $3,117,068,023 | $776,532,329 |
| Percentage of Total Revenue | 73.84% | 56.10% | 50.72% | 22.49% |
| Total KWh Consumed | 70,870,064,105 | 52,572,561,653 | 62,349,831,163 | 15,530,646,590 |
| Network Statistics | ||||
| Total Transactions Processed | 113,017,715 | 93,410,284 | 81,147,382 | 92,167,146 |
| Average KWh Consumed per TX | 627 | 563 | 768 | 169 |
| Average Fee per Transaction | $1.34 | $1.56 | $3.59 | $5.88 |
| Energy cost per TX (at 5 cents per KWh) | $31.35 | $28.15 | $38.40 | $8.45 |
| Average Network Hashrate (GH/s) | 118,556,161,320 | 73,060,732,053 | 39,983,103,533 | 7,288,177,479 |
| Average Network Effciency (J/GH) | 0.07 | 0.08 | 0.18 | 0.24 |
| Bounds | ||||
| Economic Maximum KWh Consumed | 95,979,083,186 | 93,716,464,141 | 122,910,846,910 | 69,064,661,866 |
| Technical Minimum KWh Consumed | 49,134,536,668 | 43,970,936,234 | 40,416,917,349 | 7,365,382,998 |