3 ms·
To put it in perspective, a single bitcoin transaction can power the average american's household electricity needs for... an entire month.
by ed25519FUUU 6y ago
To put it in perspective, a single bitcoin transaction can power the average american's household electricity needs for... an entire month.
- turbinerneiter 6y agoWhat is that in money, 50 bucks? (Live in Germany, we have very high energy prices, so I relly don't know. Single in 50sqm Appartment, paying 47euros per month for a 100% renewable plan.)
- mikeyouse 6y agoDepends where in the US -- In Texas (as long as there aren't any blizzard-driven blackouts with accompanying rate spikes), retail electricity costs something like $0.10/kWh. In California, it's closer to $0.20/kWh. So roughly somewhere between $70-$150.
- tgtweak 6y agoIf you've looked at the transaction fees lately, you can definitely pay to power an American house for 1 month too (that is, assuming unreasonably that the house was powered at the same cost that most bitcoin miners pay for power: ~$0.04/kWh)
- yunvme 6y agoTo put it in perspective, ~$1,000,000,000,000 USD is being secured by a decentralized system by using that much electricity. How much electricity/oil/other power is used by the US military to ensure the US government stays in power and the US currency retains its value? Surely orders of magnitude more energy than what is used for Bitcoin. The number of transactions that are completed on the base layer is not the relevant metric. As the technology matures and as Bitcoin is more fully monetized, transactions will happen on higher layers. The "high" energy cost is necessary to secure the decentralized system.