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 September 2019 | ||
| Average Bitcoin Price | $9,788 | -7.76% |  |
| Average Price Volatility | 45.91% | -22.67% | |
| Mining Revenue from Fees | $8,938,666 | -38.40% | |
| Mining Revenue from Blocks Mined | $576,774,681 | -10.51% | |
| Total Mining Revenue | $585,713,348 | -11.12% | |
| Mining Costs | |||
| Total Costs of Mining | $300,499,156 | -3.23% | |
| Percentage of Total Revenue | 51.30% | 8.88% |  |
| Total KWh Consumed | 6,009,983,127 | -3.23% | |
| Network Statistics | |||
| Total Transactions Processed | 9,837,243 | -3.32% |  |
| Average KWh Consumed per TX | 611 | 0.16% | |
| Average Fee per Transaction | $0.91 | -36.36% | |
| Energy cost per TX (at 5 cents per KWh) | $30.55 | 0.16% | |
| Average Network Hashrate (GH/s) | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | |
| Average Network Effciency (J/GH) | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | |
| Bounds | |||
| Economic Maximum KWh Consumed | 11,714,266,952 | -11.12% | |
| 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 September |
| Average Bitcoin Price | $7,153 | $8,354 | -14.38% |
| Average Price Volatility | 55.44% | 70.11% | -20.92% |
| Mining Revenue from Fees | $135,446,458 | $280,780,018 | -51.76% |
| Mining Revenue from Blocks Mined | $3,759,754,768 | $4,926,472,393 | -23.68% |
| Total Mining Revenue | $3,895,201,227 | $5,207,252,411 | -25.20% |
| Mining Costs | |||
| Total Costs of Mining | $2,266,907,325 | $2,337,483,762 | -3.02% |
| Percentage of Total Revenue | 58.20% | 44.89% | 29.65% |
| Total KWh Consumed | 45,525,800,014 | 46,749,675,243 | -2.62% |
| Network Statistics | |||
| Total Transactions Processed | 91,189,921 | 57,382,328 | 58.92% |
| Average KWh Consumed per TX | 499 | 815 | -38.77% |
| Average Fee per Transaction | $1.49 | $4.89 | -69.53% |
| Energy cost per TX (at 5 cents per KWh) | $24.95 | $40.75 | -38.77% |
| Average Network Hashrate (GH/s) | #DIV/0! | 36,762,494,076 | #DIV/0! |
| Average Network Effciency (J/GH) | #DIV/0! | 0.19 | #DIV/0! |
| Bounds | |||
| Economic Maximum KWh Consumed | 77,904,024,538 | 104,145,048,228 | -25.20% |
| Technical Minimum KWh Consumed | #DIV/0! | 14,746,136,089 | #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% |