Bitcoin Shows Promise in Leading the World’s Movement Into Green Energy

There is no fooling anybody, Bitcoin uses a lot of energy… BUT is it really as bad as the media is painting it out to be? To understand Bitcoin’s consumption of energy, we first need to dive into the basics of Bitcoin and mining.

There are only a finite number of Bitcoin that will ever be produced. 21 million in total to be exact. As of today, July 7, there are a total of 18.75 million in circulation. (You can track the total here.)

Bitcoin’s are created through the process of mining. The role of each and every miner is to process every Bitcoin transaction securely. They do this by solving a computational problem which verifies each transaction and creates a new block on the network. Create a block and you will be rewarded. It is important to note that every 210,000 blocks (or roughly every 4 years) the block reward is halved.

The problem is the probability of your computer mining a new Bitcoin is 1 in 16 trillion. Those are some crazy odds. So in order to increase your chances you need to be able to increase your hash rate which is the computational power the hardware can devote while mining bitcoins.

The higher your hash rate the more likely you are to mine the next block. Though, a higher hash rate means more energy is consumed. According to the Digiconomist’s Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index, it is estimated that one Bitcoin transaction takes 1,544 kWh to complete. The equivalent of 53 days of power for the average US household. This leads us into our little energy problem the media likes to discuss.

There is no hiding that recently Bitcoin has been on the hot seat. Media coverage have continued to label Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as high energy consumers that are unhealthy for the environment. In March, Tesla took a big step announcing it would accept Bitcoin for payment only to walk back that statement two months later in May. “Tesla will not be selling any Bitcoin and we intend to use it for transactions as soon as mining transitions to more sustainable energy.” Musk tweeted.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1392602041025843203?s=20

In June, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren commented on the environmental effects of Bitcoin tweeting…