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 August 2019 | ||
| Average Bitcoin Price | $10,611 | -0.49% |  |
| Average Price Volatility | 59.37% | -33.62% | |
| Mining Revenue from Fees | $14,510,765 | -32.67% | |
| Mining Revenue from Blocks Mined | $644,486,671 | 0.59% |  |
| Total Mining Revenue | $658,997,436 | -0.49% | |
| Mining Costs | |||
| Total Costs of Mining | $310,515,795 | 1.24% | |
| Percentage of Total Revenue | 47.12% | 1.74% | |
| Total KWh Consumed | 6,210,315,898 | 1.24% | |
| Network Statistics | |||
| Total Transactions Processed | 10,174,865 | -1.18% |  |
| Average KWh Consumed per TX | 610 | 2.35% | |
| Average Fee per Transaction | $1.43 | -31.58% | |
| Energy cost per TX (at 5 cents per KWh) | $30.50 | 2.35% | |
| Average Network Hashrate (GH/s) | 81,734,448,185 | 13.32% | |
| Average Network Effciency (J/GH) | 0.10 | -10.67% | |
| Bounds | |||
| Economic Maximum KWh Consumed | 13,179,948,711 | -0.49% | |
| Technical Minimum KWh Consumed | 3,724,029,602 | 13.34% | |
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 August |
| Average Bitcoin Price | $6,828 | $8,572 | -20.35% |
| Average Price Volatility | 56.61% | 73.22% | -22.69% |
| Mining Revenue from Fees | $126,507,792 | $276,621,320 | -54.27% |
| Mining Revenue from Blocks Mined | $3,182,980,087 | $4,523,474,550 | -29.63% |
| Total Mining Revenue | $3,309,487,879 | $4,800,095,870 | -31.05% |
| Mining Costs | |||
| Total Costs of Mining | $1,966,408,168 | $2,036,984,606 | -3.46% |
| Percentage of Total Revenue | 59.42% | 42.44% | 40.02% |
| Total KWh Consumed | 39,515,816,887 | 40,739,692,116 | -3.00% |
| Network Statistics | |||
| Total Transactions Processed | 81,352,678 | 50,475,078 | 61.17% |
| Average KWh Consumed per TX | 486 | 807 | -39.78% |
| Average Fee per Transaction | $1.56 | $5.48 | -71.53% |
| Energy cost per TX (at 5 cents per KWh) | $24.30 | $40.35 | -39.78% |
| Average Network Hashrate (GH/s) | 58,132,494,073 | 34,343,914,154 | 69.27% |
| Average Network Effciency (J/GH) | 0.12 | 0.20 | -42.67% |
| Bounds | |||
| Economic Maximum KWh Consumed | 66,189,757,586 | 96,001,917,403 | -31.05% |
| Technical Minimum KWh Consumed | 20,749,019,964 | 12,262,865,606 | 69.20% |
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% |