Bitcoin Tops 159 Individual Countries in Energy Consumption at $2 Billion Per Year

According to data consultant Alex de Vries and his Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index, the process of transacting with and mining the digital currency translates to huge real-world energy consumption. So much so that verifying Bitcoin transactions tops 159 individual countries in energy consumption. In total, the whole Bitcoin network spends almost $2 billion per year mining.
As a refresher: Every Bitcoin transaction must be verified by a key group of users called miners. Using specializ