The energy consumption of Bitcoin has hit the highest level ever in history since late 2020, according to the Digiconomist’s Bitcoin (BTC) Energy Consumption Index.
The recent hike in the price of bitcoin has caused substantial growth in the amount of energy (electricity) consumed by the coin’s miners and thus has caused another thread of argument in the crypto community over the seminal cryptocurrency ecology.
Based on the latest data released from the Digiconomist’s BTC Energy Consumption index, the BTC electricity consumption has been at its greatest peak since ending of 2020, with the yearly consumption level estimated to above 75 TWh for a record time in a particular period.
With the new estimate, BTC is now consuming approximately 77.8 TWh in a year, which is about the same energy consumed by Chile as a whole country. The carbon footprint of Bitcoin – the total greenhouse emission of gas as a result of the Bitcoin mining activity – is reportedly close to 37 megatons of Carbon (IV) Oxide, compared to the emission in New Zealand as a country.
The carbon footprint of the mining activity has been a reason for the division in the crypto community as the electricity consumption of BTC has been declared above normal.
The Cofounder of Ethereum and the founder of Cardano, Charles Hoskinson, posited that the amount consumed by the BTC mining activity is unfathomable. He continued in his interview with CNBC that the design of the coin can never make it better. His emphasis is that the Proof of Work Consensus of BTC will only increase the level of energy consumption with time.
The higher the price of BTC, the more successful it gets; however, the more successful BTC gets means there would be more competition for it; and thus, more competition means more energy being expended to mine it.
Furthermore, Charles Hoskinson iterated that the Cardano Network, which he founded only consumes a power of about 6 GWh as the reliance is the Proof of Stake consensus mechanism.
Michel Rauchs, however, said that the total energy consumed by BTC is not anywhere close to the amount of energy consumed by the idle home appliances in the United States of America. He concluded by saying the amount expended wastefully on the inactive appliances in the U.S. homes can power the BTC network for about two years.