The rise of bitcoin in popularity and value continues to cast the spotlight on the asset over its potential. However, there is always a lingering question on how much electricity the cryptocurrency consumes and how it fares with other entities.
Data acquired by Finbold indicates that bitcoin’s estimated annual consumption of 143 TWh as of May 5, 2021, is at least eight times higher than Facebook and Google’s combined consumption of 17 TWh. The social network consumption stands at 12TwH while Google’s annual energy usage is at 5 TWh.
Compared to specific countries’ annual electricity consumption, bitcoin trails China’s 6,453 TWh by at least 45 times. Furthermore, bitcoin’s consumption is at least 27 times that of the United States’ 3,990 TWh. The asset’s consumption also accounts for about 69% of all the energy used by world data centers.
