While the popularity of bitcoin has increased considerably over the last few years, the electricity usage for transactions and mining are coming under scrutiny. Recent studies showcase that the amount of energy being used by computers which mine the digital currency this year, is much greater when compared to the annual usage of around 160 countries.

For those who do not know, mining is the process through which transactions are verified by the network, through the solving of complex cryptographic problems. To make sure that transactions aren’t falsified, and that records of ownership remain unchanged on the blockchain network, transactions must be signed off into blocks, which are then verified by the miners. Once a block is solved, a 12.5 BTC reward is given to the miner, or mining pool responsible. This amount serves as the main incentive for miners, but is also the way that new bitcoin is added to the market.

Not long ago, Willy Woo, an important bitcoin researcher made a statement where he revealed that the number of bitcoin users throughout the world doubles approximately every year. Additionally, Dutch Bank ING released a paper where they state that bitcoin transactions use so much energy that potentially, the amount of electricity needed to verify a single transaction would be enough to power a house for an entire month.

To put things better into perspective, bitcoin transactions need to use so much energy in order to make verifying trades expensive for those who do it. Because of this aspect, fraudulent transactions that would be confirmed on the blockchain network are much harder to attain, as those who wish to do so, would need to make a large investment in both computing equipment and electricity to be capable of misusing the currency.