Bitcoin tops Switzerland Greece Israel electricity consumption:Bitcoin consumes more electricity than Switzerland, Israel or Greece

A new indicator highlights the high energy consumption required for bitcoin mining. University of Cambridge researchers unveiled last week the CBECI index, for Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, which updates every 30 seconds to specify the level of electricity consumed in the world by the Bitcoin network and provide an annual estimate.

As a result, the mining of bitcoins would require electricity needs higher than those of countries such as Switzerland, Israel or Greece, with an annual consumption estimated at 61.88 TWh (terawatt hour). In total, this would represent 0.28% of global electricity consumption and 0.25% of global production. The mining operation makes it possible to secure transactions carried out in cryptocurrency. Powerful computers must run at full speed to perform complex mathematical calculations and create new blocks on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Bitcoin tops Switzerland Greece Israel electricity consumption

The mining process, considered to be very energy intensive, has already been repeatedly pointed out. A report by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), published in June 2018, presented conclusions similar to what the CBECI index can show, pointing out, for example, that "total electricity consumption for bitcoin mining is equivalent to that of a medium-sized economy like Switzerland ".

"In simple terms, the quest for decentralized trust has quickly become an environmental disaster," the study's authors warned about blockchain technology, which is the foundation of cryptocurrency.

More recently (late June 2019), the Iranian authorities seized a thousand machines that mined bitcoin all day long in two abandoned farms in the Yazd region of central Iran, according to Reuters. They were accused of being responsible for a 7% increase in the country's electricity consumption, where the use of cryptocurrencies is prohibited.