The power consumption of Bitcoin "mining" for one year has surpassed Sweden's national power consumption, ranking 27th in the world, and will more than double in the next three years
Is the virtual currency represented by Bitcoin very power-hungry? In recent times, as celebrities have expressed their views, this topic has once again rushed into hot searches.
On May 13, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated on social media that the company has suspended accepting Bitcoin to purchase its vehicles due to concerns about the increase in the use of fossil fuels in Bitcoin mining. One stone caused a thousand waves. After Musk released the above remarks, the cryptocurrency collectively fell. Bitcoin once dived more than 17%, and dived from a high of $10,000 within one hour.
At the same time, some places in the country have also taken restrictive measures on virtual currency "mining" due to energy consumption considerations.
On May 18, the Development and Reform Commission of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region issued the "Announcement on the Establishment of a Reporting Platform for Virtual Currency "Mining" Enterprises", clearly clearing and shutting down virtual currency "mining" projects, and accepting petitions and reports for four types of companies, including: Virtual currency "mining" companies (including other hidden forms of "mining" companies and entities); virtual currency "mining" companies that pretend to be data centers that enjoy preferential policies in terms of tax, land, and electricity prices; are engaged in virtual currency "Mining" companies provide services such as site leasing; companies that obtain electricity supply through illegal means and engage in virtual currency "mining" business.
So, how much energy does virtual currency "mining" consume?
Expert: "Mining" energy consumption is increasing
Regarding this issue, chief information officer of mining Energy Network, analyzed in an interview with the reporter of "Daily Economic News" that all currencies are energy consumption. In the past, the "oil-based" era produced energy consumption. Now, digital currencies are Value can also be calculated in terms of energy consumption.
Of course, a virtual currency like Bitcoin has its particularity. Its'mining' is an increasingly difficult process, and the increase in energy consumption is increasing.
Many Analyst pointed out that virtual currency "mining" is a dynamic process. In the early days, virtual currency was easy to "dig", and the electricity consumption of "mining" was not large at this time. However, as "mining" becomes more and more difficult and electricity consumption is increasing, energy consumption will also become very high. Therefore, it is difficult to draw a constant conclusion as to how much electricity or energy consumption is required to "dig" a virtual currency.
At the same time, the reporter also noticed that although it is difficult to make a quantitative conclusion on the electricity consumption or energy consumption of a virtual currency "mined", some research institutions try to show its energy consumption level in total.
According to data from the Alternative Finance Research Center of the University of Cambridge, as of May 17, 2021, the annual power consumption of global bitcoin mining is approximately 134.89 TWh (1 TWh is 1 billion kWh).
What is the concept of this number?
According to the statistics of the center, the power consumption of Bitcoin mining is among the top 30 countries in the world.