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 2020 | ||
| Average Bitcoin Price | $21,866 | 33.24% |  |
| Average Price Volatility | 62.97% | 42.37% | |
| Mining Revenue from Fees | $60,101,201 | 9.22% | |
| Mining Revenue from Blocks Mined | $609,326,133 | 37.56% | |
| Total Mining Revenue | $669,427,334 | 34.43% | |
| Mining Costs | |||
| Total Costs of Mining | $330,307,891 | 3.43% | |
| Percentage of Total Revenue | 49.34% | -23.06% |  |
| Total KWh Consumed | 6,606,157,816 | 3.43% | |
| Network Statistics | |||
| Total Transactions Processed | 9,654,273 | 5.44% |  |
| Average KWh Consumed per TX | 684 | -2.01% | |
| Average Fee per Transaction | $6.23 | 3.66% | |
| Energy cost per TX (at 5 cents per KWh) | $34.20 | -2.01% | |
| Average Network Hashrate (GH/s) | 134,258,218,466 | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! |
| Average Network Effciency (J/GH) | 0.07 | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! |
| Bounds | |||
| Economic Maximum KWh Consumed | 13,388,546,681 | 34.43% | |
| Technical Minimum KWh Consumed | 4,067,576,990 | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! |
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 2020 | For 2019 | numbers up to December |
| Average Bitcoin Price | $11,054 | $7,362 | 50.15% |
| Average Price Volatility | 47.35% | 54.09% | -12.46% |
| Mining Revenue from Fees | $151,123,924 | $154,113,235 | -1.94% |
| Mining Revenue from Blocks Mined | $4,647,830,236 | $5,132,268,696 | -9.44% |
| Total Mining Revenue | $4,798,954,159 | $5,286,381,931 | -9.22% |
| Mining Costs | |||
| Total Costs of Mining | $3,543,503,205 | $3,188,438,071 | 11.14% |
| Percentage of Total Revenue | 73.84% | 60.31% | 22.42% |
| Total KWh Consumed | 70,870,064,105 | 63,956,414,937 | 10.81% |
| Network Statistics | |||
| Total Transactions Processed | 113,017,715 | 119,744,128 | -5.62% |
| Average KWh Consumed per TX | 627 | 534 | 17.42% |
| Average Fee per Transaction | $1.34 | $1.29 | 3.88% |
| Energy cost per TX (at 5 cents per KWh) | $31.35 | $26.70 | 17.42% |
| Average Network Hashrate (GH/s) | #DIV/0! | 132,121,533,180 | #DIV/0! |
| Average Network Effciency (J/GH) | #DIV/0! | 0.06 | #DIV/0! |
| Bounds | |||
| Economic Maximum KWh Consumed | 95,979,083,186 | 105,727,638,625 | -9.22% |
| Technical Minimum KWh Consumed | #DIV/0! | 47,241,187,900 | #DIV/0! |
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% |