Bitcoin runs on less energy than banking.

The global banking system uses 263 TWh a year, Bitcoin uses 138, and gold mining uses 240. The question was never how much Bitcoin uses, but compared to what?

52%

of Bitcoin mining runs on sustainable energy

Miners follow the cheapest electricity. Cheap electricity is increasingly clean.

Stranded hydro, curtailed wind, nuclear, and flared gas capture. The Cambridge Digital Mining Industry Report (2025) found 52.4% of Bitcoin mining now runs on sustainable sources. The share has grown every year as miners and clean energy increasingly overlap.

Annual energy use, the comparison most headlines skip

Bitcoin 138 TWh

Less than half the banking system. More than half from sustainable sources.

Gold Mining 240 TWh

Diesel machinery, cyanide leaching, and open-pit excavation on every continent.

Banking System 263 TWh

ATM networks, data centers, branch offices, and armored trucks worldwide. Never questioned.

Sources: Cambridge Digital Mining Industry Report 2025; Galaxy Digital

138 TWh

Bitcoin annual energy use

Less than half the banking system and less than gold mining. Runs a 24/7 global monetary network with no central authority.

52.4%

Bitcoin mining on sustainable energy

Cambridge 2025. The share grows every year because cheap electricity and clean electricity increasingly overlap.

$31.6M

Paid to Bitcoin miners by Texas grid (ERCOT), Aug 2023

Miners scaled down on command during a heatwave, acting as a flexible demand resource for the power grid.

Key takeaways

Bitcoin uses less energy per year than the global banking system and less than gold mining.
More than half of Bitcoin mining now runs on sustainable energy sources, including stranded hydro, curtailed wind, and nuclear.
Miners have a structural incentive to find the cheapest electricity, and cheap electricity increasingly means clean electricity.
Bitcoin mining can stabilize power grids by scaling down on demand. The Texas grid paid miners $31.6 million to do exactly that in 2023.

Worth knowing

Energy use is not inherently bad. The question is what the energy buys. Banking buys settlement infrastructure maintained by trusted intermediaries. Gold mining buys a metal with no fixed supply cap. Bitcoin’s energy buys a global, censorship-resistant monetary network with a mathematically fixed supply that no authority can alter. Whether that is worth the cost is a legitimate debate. But it has to start with an honest comparison.