Bictoin cryptocurrency uses more electricity than 159 states worldwide
By Sarah Sermondadaz on 29.11.2017 sciencesetavenir.fr
The price of Bitcoin is soaring ... and its energy cost too. A study reveals that the cryptocurrency required 30,25 TWh of electricity in 2017, a consumption higher than that of 159 countries.Driven by speculation, the value of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency exceeded the 10.000 dollar mark (around 8.400 euros) per unit at the end of November 2017. But at the same time as its monetary rate, it is also its electricity consumption which flies. A phenomenon which is due above all to the decentralized nature of cryptocurrency (and in particular blockchain technology): each financial exchange must be validated by the various computers on the network which intervened earlier in the transaction chain. This involves the calculation of cryptographic evidence, requiring great computing power. In total, 30,25 TWh were consumed for Bitcoin this year, i.e. an instantaneous power of 3,4 GW. This represents more than the national consumption of 159 countries (represented below), including for example Morocco, Hungary, or even Lebanon! This is what a study of the Digiconomist site relates, based on the latest figures
Map of the 159 countries that consume less electricity than BitcoinA decentralized network that consumes more than traditional banking transactionsBitcoin would only represent 6,74% of French electricity consumption, but it should be remembered that France is the 10th country to consume the most electricity in the world, behind South Korea and ahead of the United Kingdom,
according to figures from 2014. But the same comparison, applied to other countries, is less flattering: the cryptocurrency network would represent more than 41% of Austrian electricity consumption and more than 2000% (!) that of Mali. But less than 1% of that of China, the country with the most "Bitcoin farms" ...
INCENTIVES. What is a Bitcoin "farm" (or mine)? In reality, the calculation of the cryptographic proof, which is used to certify the validity of a transaction and to ensure that it has not been falsified by a smart guy (who could for example seek to grant himself a Bitcoin credit) by tracing the history of previous transactions, can be done by any computer. After a certain number of validations, the computer receives a reward in Bitcoin. A serious incentive that has presided over the creation, over the past 5 years, of computer networks exclusively dedicated to this end ... But the operation is only profitable as long as the price of Bitcoin is high, and the sufficiently low cost of electricity.
Today, on average, these "cyber-miners" must pay 60% of their earnings to supply electricity. This is the very structure of blockchain technology that makes it so energy consuming. In order to prove this point, Digiconomist compared the cost of Bitcoin to that of a conventional banking transaction system like VISA. Result: Bitcoin's power consumption is about 56 times that of the VISA system! And this, without even correcting the calculation by the number of transactions carried out, more important for Visa. To think about, at a time when blockchain is presented as revolutionary: decentralized networks will only work wonders if new, more efficient validation algorithms are designed.
