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Bitcoin runs on electricity. Here is why that matters to you.
Five short answers, about five minutes. Tap an underlined word for its meaning, or go deeper for detail. Then step 2 shows the electricity live, and step 3 the economy around it.
1
Why does Bitcoin use electricity?
No bank keeps Bitcoin's ledger. Instead, machines called miners compete to add the next page of transactions, about every 10 minutes, by making trillions of guesses a second, and every guess burns electricity. The winner is paid in new bitcoin plus fees. To rewrite the record, someone would have to redo all that work, so the electricity is what makes the ledger hard to fake.
About $256k is what each new page pays its miner in fresh coins (3.125 bitcoin at the Oct 18 close), about $37 million a day. What it means: that daily payout keeps honest miners running, and it is what anyone trying to rewrite the ledger would have to outspend.
Go deeper
The total guessing power is the hashratehashrateThe total computing power securing the Bitcoin network, in hashes per second — a measure of how much work backs the chain.See it on the site →. Every 2,016 blocks (about two weeks) the network resets the difficultydifficultyA protocol setting that adjusts every ~2 weeks to keep blocks arriving about every 10 minutes, rising and falling with hashrate.See it on the site → so pages keep arriving every 10 minutes however many machines join. More machines do not mean more bitcoin, only more competition for the same reward.
At today's hashrate the network draws roughly 15–33 GW around the clock, depending on how efficient the machines are (15–32 J/THJ/THJoules per terahash: how much electricity a mining machine burns for each unit of work. Lower is more efficient. New machines are around 15–20; older ones 30 or more.). An estimate, not a meter reading.
2
What does it cost to make one bitcoin?
Mostly electricity. At 5¢ per kWh, a mid-efficiency machine burns about $63k of power for every coin the network mines. The newest machines need about $41k; old ones about $88k.
Bitcoin closed at $82,002 on Oct 18, 1.30 times that middle figure. What it means: efficient miners make money on power while the oldest machines are squeezed. If the price fell toward the cost, the least efficient machines would switch off first, mining would get easier, and the cost to mine a coin would fall with it. That is why it is a soft floor, not a hard one.
Go deeper
The cost of productioncost of productionAn estimate of the electricity cost to mine one bitcoin, from difficulty and rig efficiency. A soft, reflexive floor — not a hard one.See it on the site → is electricity only: no machines, buildings or staff. Real power deals vary a lot from site to site, so the true floor is a wide band, and it moves every two weeks with difficulty.
3
When do miners switch off, and why does the grid care?
A miner can only pay so much for power before running stops paying: its breakeven power pricebreakeven power priceThe most a miner can pay for electricity and still cover it from what its machines earn. Below it, running pays; above it, switching off saves money. Electricity only.See it on the site →. For a typical modern machine (20 J/THJ/THJoules per terahash: how much electricity a mining machine burns for each unit of work. Lower is more efficient. New machines are around 15–20; older ones 30 or more.) that ceiling is 7.6¢ per kWh ($76 per MWhMWhMegawatt-hour, 1,000 kWh: the unit wholesale power is priced in. $76 per MWh is 7.6¢ per kWh, the unit on a household bill.) at the Oct 18 close. Wholesale power in Texas is repriced every few minutes; when it jumps above that line, a miner saves money by switching off, and can do it in minutes, faster than almost any other big user of power.
In the week of Oct 5–11, wholesale power on the Texas grid (ERCOT Houston hubERCOTThe Electric Reliability Council of Texas: the operator of most of Texas's power grid and its wholesale electricity market, home to many US Bitcoin miners.) averaged 4.2¢ per kWh. What it means: below the line, so running paid on average. When power is scarce, in a heat wave or a winter storm, prices spike and miners have every reason to step aside. Many are also paid to, through grid demand-response programs (EIA).
Go deeper
The hub pricehub priceThe wholesale price of electricity at a trading point on the grid, reset every 5 to 15 minutes. Large buyers like miners pay close to it; households pay a fixed retail rate.See it on the site → moves with net loadnet loadGrid demand minus what wind and solar supply: what the rest of the fleet, mostly gas, has to cover. When it is high, power usually gets pricier., the demand left after wind and solar. When the wind drops on a hot evening, gas plants set the price and it climbs; on a windy night it can fall below zero. Step 2, Mining now, shows it live.
4
So is Bitcoin's energy use good or bad?
Both sides have real evidence, and the answer depends on which power and when.
The concern
US crypto mining used an estimated 0.6% to 2.3% of all US electricity (EIA, 2024). A 2025 study of the 34 largest US mines found 85% of the extra power they drew came from fossil-fuel plants (Nature Communications).
The case for
Mining is one of the most switchable big loads a grid has. It can use surplus wind and solar that would otherwise be thrown away, and power down in minutes when the grid is tight; grid operators run programs that pay large users, miners among them, to do exactly that (EIA).
What it means: the useful question is not “how much energy” but “which energy, and at what hours”. Step 2 shows that live for Texas: the price, the wind and solar share, and the hours mining paid.
5
Where do gas, rates and the dollar come in?
Gas plants often set the US power price, so gas prices move what miners pay. And bitcoin is priced in dollars and competes with every other place to put money, so it feels what safe money pays (interest rates) and how strong the dollar is. Step 3 shows all three now, each with what it means.
Go deeper
A combined-cycle gas plant burns about 7.5 MMBtu of gas per MWh (EIA's 2024 average), so power's fuel cost is roughly the Henry HubHenry HubThe US benchmark price for natural gas, set at a pipeline hub in Louisiana, quoted in dollars per MMBtu (million British thermal units). price times 7.5. Plant and delivery costs come on top.
So gas would have to reach about $10.19 per MMBtu before the fuel alone cost more than a typical miner can pay for power at the Oct 18 close.