A recent report from GoMining indicates that energy consumption in Bitcoin mining has reached record levels, despite a decrease in revenues due to sluggish transaction activity.
Rise in Bitcoin Energy Consumption
The GoMining report, based on data from CoinMetrics Labs, shows that Bitcoin's estimated energy use surged from 15.6 gigawatts in January 2024 to 24.5 gigawatts in January 2025. By May 2025, consumption climbed to 33.1 gigawatts, more than doubling in just 17 months. Much of this spike occurred in early 2025, with a 35 percent increase between January and May, largely driven by the deployment of more energy-intensive mining hardware following April’s halving.
Mining Difficulty and Its Impact on Revenue
Despite record power demands, mining difficulty has remained relatively subdued. The first half of 2025 recorded 13 difficulty adjustments, rising from 109.78 trillion in January to 116.96 trillion by June, a modest 6.54 percent increase. While difficulty briefly reached an all-time high of 126.98 trillion in May, extreme summer heat in North America forced miners offline, reducing hashrate by 147 exahashes per second and triggering a 7.48 percent difficulty drop. This was the steepest decline since July 2021 during the post-China mining ban period.
Market Prospects and Challenges for Miners
This combination of rising energy consumption and restrained mining difficulty highlights the growing financial strain on miners. Revenue has been squeezed by weak transaction activity, leaving operators dependent on block rewards that continue to decrease with each halving. Industry analysts caution that this pressure is likely to persist. Mining companies are deploying increasingly powerful equipment, but long-term profitability will hinge on network activity, user demand for block space, and the halving schedule, which will continue approximately every four years until the last Bitcoin is mined around 2140.
The increasing energy demands of Bitcoin mining continue to grow, presenting challenges for the financial viability of mining companies. Weak network activity and ongoing reductions in block rewards add further complexity for miners that require ongoing research and adaptation in a changing market.
