Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Hard to find the original numbers since China, which accounts for ~70% of mining, cracked down in summer of 2021. But according the US Energy Information Administration, crypto mining in 2024 accounted for 0.6% to 2.3% of all US electricity consumption.

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=61364

According to the UN, China's share of mining dropped from 73% in 2020 to 21% in 2022. They also state

> The greenhouse gas emissions of Bitcoin mining alone could be sufficient to push global warming beyond the Paris Agreement's goal of holding anthropogenic climate warming below 2 degrees Celsius.

https://unu.edu/press-release/un-study-reveals-hidden-enviro...

In 2024 the percent of global energy usage for crypto mining has dropped to around 2% according to the IMF

https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2024/08/15/carbon-emis...

Someone less lazy than me could probably take some of these statistics to get an estimate of global energy consumed by crypto mining at its peak in 2020



Consider applying for YC's Winter 2026 batch! Applications are open till Nov 10

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: