The Bitcoin network consumes a lot of electricity in order to maintain its dispersion and continuous participation of users, which makes it difficult for more than half of the network nodes to be taken over, so as to ensure the security of the network. According to the survey in 2021, the Bitcoin network consumes about 113.89TWh/yr of electricity in total. In the United States, the total amount of electricity consumed by the "always-on" electrical equipment is about 1,375 TWh /yr, which is 12.1 times the total amount of electricity consumed by the Bitcoin network.

It is also worth noticing that Bitcoin mining is commercially efficient. This means that Bitcoin can usually be mined in places where electricity costs are relatively low on a global scale. These power resources usually use hydropower, natural gas, and even wind and solar energy to generate electricity. In the reports of 2019 and 2020, the proportion of carbon-neutral Bitcoin mining ranges from 39% to 70%. In addition, Bitcoin can be mined anywhere, which makes it able to consume electricity that would otherwise be wasted.