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 July 2021 | ||
| Average Bitcoin Price | $34,266 | -4.18% |  |
| Average Price Volatility | 64.19% | -13.55% | |
| Mining Revenue from Fees | $25,537,699 | -36.79% | |
| Mining Revenue from Blocks Mined | $876,576,593 | -6.90% | |
| Total Mining Revenue | $902,114,292 | -8.13% | |
| Mining Costs | |||
| Total Costs of Mining | $578,509,483 | 8.90% |  |
| Percentage of Total Revenue | 64.13% | 18.54% | |
| Total KWh Consumed | 11,570,189,664 | 8.90% | |
| Network Statistics | |||
| Total Transactions Processed | 6,653,900 | 1.98% |  |
| Average KWh Consumed per TX | 1,739 | 6.82% | |
| Average Fee per Transaction | $3.84 | -37.96% | |
| Energy cost per TX (at 5 cents per KWh) | $86.95 | 6.82% | |
| Average Network Hashrate (GH/s) | 97,898,888,469 | -21.66% | |
| Average Network Effciency (J/GH) | 0.16 | 34.55% | |
| Bounds | |||
| Economic Maximum KWh Consumed | 18,042,285,840 | -8.13% | |
| Technical Minimum KWh Consumed | 2,510,837,365 | -19.06% | |
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 July |
| Average Bitcoin Price | $44,229 | $8,604 | 414.05% |
| Average Price Volatility | 71.23% | 51.88% | 37.30% |
| Mining Revenue from Fees | $852,727,602 | $185 | 460992045.51% |
| Mining Revenue from Blocks Mined | $8,445,010,725 | $2,646,267,875 | 219.13% |
| Total Mining Revenue | $9,297,738,327 | $2,646,268,060 | 251.35% |
| Mining Costs | |||
| Total Costs of Mining | $3,004,318,307 | $2,020,678,520 | 48.68% |
| Percentage of Total Revenue | 32.31% | 76.36% | -57.68% |
| Total KWh Consumed | 60,086,366,132 | 40,413,570,399 | 48.68% |
| Network Statistics | |||
| Total Transactions Processed | 57,830,616 | 65,606,984 | -11.85% |
| Average KWh Consumed per TX | 1,039 | 616 | 68.67% |
| Average Fee per Transaction | $14.75 | $0.00 | #DIV/0! |
| Energy cost per TX (at 5 cents per KWh) | $51.95 | $30.80 | 68.67% |
| Average Network Hashrate (GH/s) | 146,577,212,230 | 109,919,503,249 | 33.35% |
| Average Network Effciency (J/GH) | 0.08 | 0.07 | 11.48% |
| Bounds | |||
| Economic Maximum KWh Consumed | 185,954,766,547 | 52,925,361,204 | 251.35% |
| Technical Minimum KWh Consumed | 46,898,641,026 | 47,255,410,429 | -0.75% |
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 |