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 2021 | ||
| Average Bitcoin Price | $49,416 | -18.53% |  |
| Average Price Volatility | 59.30% | 35.64% |  |
| Mining Revenue from Fees | $19,259,419 | -21.42% | |
| Mining Revenue from Blocks Mined | $1,427,754,393 | -17.26% | |
| Total Mining Revenue | $1,447,013,812 | -17.32% | |
| Mining Costs | |||
| Total Costs of Mining | $858,606,060 | 8.21% | |
| Percentage of Total Revenue | 59.34% | 30.87% | |
| Total KWh Consumed | 17,172,121,204 | 8.21% | |
| Network Statistics | |||
| Total Transactions Processed | 8,137,350 | -1.24% |  |
| Average KWh Consumed per TX | 2,110 | 9.55% | |
| Average Fee per Transaction | $2.37 | -20.20% | |
| Energy cost per TX (at 5 cents per KWh) | $105.50 | 9.55% | |
| Average Network Hashrate (GH/s) | 172,081,947,763 | 6.32% | |
| Average Network Effciency (J/GH) | 0.13 | -1.54% | |
| Bounds | |||
| Economic Maximum KWh Consumed | 28,940,276,236 | -17.32% | |
| Technical Minimum KWh Consumed | 4,415,675,693 | 9.91% | |
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 December |
| Average Bitcoin Price | $47,431 | $11,160 | 325.01% |
| Average Price Volatility | 63.31% | 47.47% | 33.37% |
| Mining Revenue from Fees | $957,308,712 | $151,123,915 | 533.46% |
| Mining Revenue from Blocks Mined | $15,688,420,845 | $4,494,467,197 | 249.06% |
| Total Mining Revenue | $16,645,729,556 | $4,645,591,112 | 258.31% |
| Mining Costs | |||
| Total Costs of Mining | $6,700,770,948 | $3,433,320,181 | 95.17% |
| Percentage of Total Revenue | 40.26% | 73.90% | -45.53% |
| Total KWh Consumed | 134,015,418,967 | 68,666,403,625 | 95.17% |
| Network Statistics | |||
| Total Transactions Processed | 96,670,416 | 109,673,801 | -11.86% |
| Average KWh Consumed per TX | 1,386 | 626 | 121.41% |
| Average Fee per Transaction | $9.90 | $1.38 | 617.39% |
| Energy cost per TX (at 5 cents per KWh) | $69.30 | $31.30 | 121.41% |
| Average Network Hashrate (GH/s) | 146,947,345,705 | 118,941,269,511 | 23.55% |
| Average Network Effciency (J/GH) | 0.10 | 0.07 | 57.97% |
| Bounds | |||
| Economic Maximum KWh Consumed | 332,914,591,130 | 92,911,822,240 | 258.31% |
| Technical Minimum KWh Consumed | 45,695,619,584 | 49,134,261,303 | -7.00% |
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 |
