Bitcoin Historic Sustainability Performance

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:

DescriptionValueMonthly changeTrend
Mining RevenueFor August 2023
Average Bitcoin Price$27,873-7.35%
Average Price Volatility18.03%-36.13%
Mining Revenue from Fees$16,523,070-12.64%
Mining Revenue from Blocks Mined$787,379,288-7.38%
Total Mining Revenue$803,902,358-7.49%
Mining Costs
Total Costs of Mining$457,621,0075.73%
Percentage of Total Revenue56.92%14.29%
Total KWh Consumed9,357,025,8333.27%
Network Statistics
Total Transactions Processed14,411,7992.00%
Average KWh Consumed per TX6491.25%
Average Fee per Transaction$1.15-14.18%
Energy cost per TX (at 5 cents per KWh)$32.451.25%
Average Network Hashrate (GH/s)386,224,512,7282.78%
Average Network Effciency (J/GH)0.030.62%
Bounds
Economic Maximum KWh Consumed16,078,047,165-7.49%
Technical Minimum KWh Consumed9,897,425,2522.63%

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.

DescriptionYTD CurrentYTD PreviousYoY Change
Mining RevenueFor 2023For 2022numbers up to August
Average Bitcoin Price$26,365$34,537-23.66%
Average Price Volatility34.66%53.28%-34.95%
Mining Revenue from Fees$258,165,623$105,716,268144.21%
Mining Revenue from Blocks Mined$5,889,663,635$7,680,781,287-23.32%
Total Mining Revenue$6,147,829,258$7,786,497,556-21.04%
Mining Costs
Total Costs of Mining$2,986,072,410$6,064,240,726-50.76%
Percentage of Total Revenue48.57%77.88%-37.63%
Total KWh Consumed64,730,854,957121,284,814,517-46.63%
Network Statistics
Total Transactions Processed92,923,77461,268,99451.67%
Average KWh Consumed per TX6971,980-64.80%
Average Fee per Transaction$2.78$1.7360.69%
Energy cost per TX (at 5 cents per KWh)$34.85$99.00-64.80%
Average Network Hashrate (GH/s)342,898,257,104204,173,835,43067.94%
Average Network Effciency (J/GH)0.030.10-68.20%
Bounds
Economic Maximum KWh Consumed122,956,585,151155,729,951,113-21.04%
Technical Minimum KWh Consumed97,525,770,11361,119,746,56959.57%

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).

Description20212020201920182017
Mining Revenue
Average Bitcoin Price$47,431$11,054$8,472$7,559$4,375
Average Price Volatility63.31%47.35%59.07%64.38%66.78%
Mining Revenue from Fees$957,308,712$151,123,924$146,041,838$291,320,194$541,679,741
Mining Revenue from Blocks Mined$15,688,420,845$4,647,830,236$4,539,781,369$5,854,222,152$2,911,553,352
Total Mining Revenue$16,645,729,556$4,798,954,159$4,685,823,207$6,145,542,346$3,453,233,093
Mining Costs
Total Costs of Mining$6,700,770,948$3,543,503,205$2,628,628,083$3,117,068,023$776,532,329
Percentage of Total Revenue40.26%73.84%56.10%50.72%22.49%
Total KWh Consumed134,015,418,96770,870,064,10552,572,561,65362,349,831,16315,530,646,590
Network Statistics
Total Transactions Processed96,670,416113,017,71593,410,28481,147,38292,167,146
Average KWh Consumed per TX1,386627563768169
Average Fee per Transaction$9.90$1.34$1.56$3.59$5.88
Energy cost per TX (at 5 cents per KWh)$69.30$31.35$28.15$38.40$8.45
Average Network Hashrate (GH/s)146,947,345,705118,556,161,32073,060,732,05339,983,103,5337,288,177,479
Average Network Effciency (J/GH)0.100.070.080.180.24
Bounds
Economic Maximum KWh Consumed332,914,591,13095,979,083,18693,716,464,141122,910,846,91069,064,661,866
Technical Minimum KWh Consumed45,695,619,58449,134,536,66843,970,936,23440,416,917,3497,365,382,998
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