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 October 2019 | ||
| Average Bitcoin Price | $8,373 | -14.46% |  |
| Average Price Volatility | 48.44% | 5.51% |  |
| Mining Revenue from Fees | $7,615,377 | -14.80% | |
| Mining Revenue from Blocks Mined | $493,677,120 | -14.41% | |
| Total Mining Revenue | $501,292,498 | -14.41% | |
| Mining Costs | |||
| Total Costs of Mining | $310,515,795 | 3.33% | |
| Percentage of Total Revenue | 61.94% | 20.74% | |
| Total KWh Consumed | 6,210,315,898 | 3.33% | |
| Network Statistics | |||
| Total Transactions Processed | 9,904,533 | 0.68% |  |
| Average KWh Consumed per TX | 627 | 2.62% | |
| Average Fee per Transaction | $0.77 | -15.38% | |
| Energy cost per TX (at 5 cents per KWh) | $31.35 | 2.62% | |
| Average Network Hashrate (GH/s) | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | |
| Average Network Effciency (J/GH) | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | |
| Bounds | |||
| Economic Maximum KWh Consumed | 10,025,849,951 | -14.41% | |
| Technical Minimum KWh Consumed | #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 2019 | For 2018 | numbers up to October |
| Average Bitcoin Price | $7,278 | $8,162 | -10.83% |
| Average Price Volatility | 54.73% | 66.04% | -17.13% |
| Mining Revenue from Fees | $143,061,836 | $284,300,482 | -49.68% |
| Mining Revenue from Blocks Mined | $4,253,431,889 | $5,328,963,729 | -20.18% |
| Total Mining Revenue | $4,396,493,724 | $5,613,264,212 | -21.68% |
| Mining Costs | |||
| Total Costs of Mining | $2,577,423,119 | $2,647,999,557 | -2.67% |
| Percentage of Total Revenue | 58.62% | 47.17% | 24.27% |
| Total KWh Consumed | 51,736,115,912 | 52,959,991,141 | -2.31% |
| Network Statistics | |||
| Total Transactions Processed | 101,094,454 | 64,883,403 | 55.81% |
| Average KWh Consumed per TX | 512 | 816 | -37.25% |
| Average Fee per Transaction | $1.42 | $4.38 | -67.58% |
| Energy cost per TX (at 5 cents per KWh) | $25.60 | $40.80 | -37.25% |
| Average Network Hashrate (GH/s) | #DIV/0! | 38,781,077,292 | #DIV/0! |
| Average Network Effciency (J/GH) | #DIV/0! | 0.19 | #DIV/0! |
| Bounds | |||
| Economic Maximum KWh Consumed | 87,929,874,489 | 112,265,284,237 | -21.68% |
| Technical Minimum KWh Consumed | #DIV/0! | 16,917,962,925 | #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% |