Bitcoin’s Energy Consumption in Summer: Rise or Fall?

It’s no secret that Bitcoin (BTC) mining is an expensive business, and in more ways than one. Not only has it become less profitable since July 2016’s halving of mining rewards to 12.5 BTC, but competition among miners and an increasing hashrate have resulted in ever-higher energy consumption, with all the damage to the environment that implies.

Yet, as energy-intensive as Bitcoin mining is, a question still remains: Is there a seasonal variation in the cryptocurrency’s energy consumption? Even if consumption is rising on the whole, does something different happen during the summer months?

Well, data hasn’t been collected on Bitcoin’s electricity consumption for long enough to provide a truly authoritative answer to this question, yet what data there is suggests that the summer brings a slight, but noticeable weakening to the rise in BTC’s energy consumption. This is most likely because, globally, energy prices increase during the summer months, putting a strain on the profitability…