Bitcoin transactions are the new consumers of electricity. The amount of energy consumed in a single transaction can power up one house for a month.
The cryptocurrency, Bitcoin uses electricity to make verification trades expensive. This makes transactions costly and free from frauds. In order to make the verification process costly, the algorithm needs massive processing power which is supplied by electricity.
Bitcoin mining is the process of minting new units of Bitcoin. It uses electricity as much as the whole of Denmark uses in a year. Bitcoin mining needs computing power to solve mathematical problems and the problems keep getting more complicated as more computers join the network.
So as more people mine the Bitcoin, the more energy will be required to create new units. Its energy use is growing at the rate of 25% per month. If it continues at the current rate then by 2019 it will consume the same amount of electricity as the US and bitcoin minting will use up all of world’s energy within two years. The question that is being asked is if the world can really afford the Bitcoin?
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