Bitcoin Electricity Consumption is Almost as Much as a Country

Electricity consumption of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, also known as digital gold, has become one of the most curious topics recently. Since there is a lot of information pollution on this subject, we briefly discussed this issue.

Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies have arguably become one of the most popular economic assets of recent years. Cryptocurrencies, which are independent of a central authority and traditional financial system, attract many people with their speed, ease of use and cost. Bitcoin and many cryptocurrencies are produced by miners, not a central bank. Mining is the process of producing new cryptocurrencies by solving complex mathematical problems, validating blocks and adding them to the blockchain. In theory, anyone who wants can join this network with their personal computer and take their place in the mining race. However, since our competitors in the mining race today are large companies consisting of thousands of very powerful computers and special mining devices, it will not be a realistic competition.

A very important result of this competition is energy consumption. Millions of devices around the world are working non-stop to get ahead in Bitcoin production. In addition to the electrical energy consumed by these devices, extra energy is also consumed for cooling the devices.

In fact, one of the reasons why mining is so difficult is the high amount of energy required. This used electricity is mostly spent on cooling systems. For this reason, the world's leading mining companies generally prefer to establish farms in cold climates. For example; Russia, China, Georgia, the United States, Canada, Sweden and even the Poles!

Cambridge University in England published the Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index in 2019. According to these data, Bitcoin's electricity consumption has increased exponentially over the years and has become almost as much electricity as a small country.

It is very difficult to call Bitcoin environmentally friendly due to the energy consumed and the carbon gas released as a result.