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 March 2021 | ||
| Average Bitcoin Price | $54,720 | 18.54% |  |
| Average Price Volatility | 76.32% | -11.84% |  |
| Mining Revenue from Fees | $156,138,370 | -14.34% | |
| Mining Revenue from Blocks Mined | $1,558,885,287 | 28.85% | |
| Total Mining Revenue | $1,715,023,657 | 23.19% | |
| Mining Costs | |||
| Total Costs of Mining | $354,506,595 | 18.83% | |
| Percentage of Total Revenue | 20.67% | -3.55% | |
| Total KWh Consumed | 7,090,131,899 | 18.83% | |
| Network Statistics | |||
| Total Transactions Processed | 9,280,623 | 3.07% |  |
| Average KWh Consumed per TX | 764 | 15.23% | |
| Average Fee per Transaction | $16.82 | -16.90% | |
| Energy cost per TX (at 5 cents per KWh) | $38.20 | 15.23% | |
| Average Network Hashrate (GH/s) | 158,543,502,027 | 2.43% | |
| Average Network Effciency (J/GH) | 0.06 | 4.70% | |
| Bounds | |||
| Economic Maximum KWh Consumed | 34,300,473,135 | 23.19% | |
| Technical Minimum KWh Consumed | 4,116,374,520 | 13.49% | |
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 March |
| Average Bitcoin Price | $45,121 | $8,245 | 447.25% |
| Average Price Volatility | 81.97% | 54.99% | 49.06% |
| Mining Revenue from Fees | $451,323,885 | $76 | 594999810.90% |
| Mining Revenue from Blocks Mined | $3,737,496,984 | $1,392,977,971 | 168.31% |
| Total Mining Revenue | $4,188,820,869 | $1,392,978,047 | 200.71% |
| Mining Costs | |||
| Total Costs of Mining | $983,157,097 | $932,433,257 | 5.44% |
| Percentage of Total Revenue | 23.47% | 66.94% | -64.94% |
| Total KWh Consumed | 19,663,141,936 | 18,648,665,140 | 5.44% |
| Network Statistics | |||
| Total Transactions Processed | 28,391,156 | 28,181,299 | 0.74% |
| Average KWh Consumed per TX | 693 | 662 | 4.68% |
| Average Fee per Transaction | $15.90 | $0.00 | #DIV/0! |
| Energy cost per TX (at 5 cents per KWh) | $34.65 | $33.10 | 4.68% |
| Average Network Hashrate (GH/s) | 154,580,912,372 | 107,769,761,952 | 43.44% |
| Average Network Effciency (J/GH) | 0.06 | 0.08 | -26.47% |
| Bounds | |||
| Economic Maximum KWh Consumed | 83,776,417,381 | 27,859,560,937 | 200.71% |
| Technical Minimum KWh Consumed | 51,972,557,950 | 49,314,427,782 | 5.39% |
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 |