Higher power consumption than Finland – should Switzerland ban bitcoin?
A single Bitcoin transaction consumes about the same amount of electricity as a household does in 1.5 months. The Greens now want to regulate Bitcoin more closely. The industry is fighting back.
• Bitcoin consumes more electricity per year than countries like Belgium, Chile, and the Philippines.
• The Greens are calling for Switzerland to regulate this “energy guzzler” more closely finally.
• The Swiss Blockchain Federation counters that a ban on 
Bitcoin would not help at all.
The high energy and electricity prices have consequences: Italian pizza is becoming more expensive, hotels require a surcharge and companies are asking for help from the federal government. Federal Councilor Simonetta Sommaruga also called for energy saving. At the same time, cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin consume massive amounts of electricity.
Reader M.B.* is annoyed: “We should limit ourselves to washing, showering, and cooking, but cryptos are forgotten.” A single transaction “with these pie-in-the-sky currencies” consumes about the same amount of electricity as an average household in 1.5 months. “The austerity appeals are contradictory as long as you can produce and trade cryptocurrencies without restrictions,” says the reader.
Calls for a ban are loud
According to the University of Cambridge, the Bitcoin network currently consumes around 94.8 terawatt hours of electricity per year. The whole of Finland will need less electricity in twelve months. Paul Niggli, ex-crisis manager at the electricity network operator Swissgrid, called for a ban on Bitcoin in an interview with CH Media.
Bangladesh, Bolivia, and Ghana have already banned bitcoin. Does Switzerland have to do that too? “That wouldn’t do any good,” says SVP politician Heinz Tännler, President of the Swiss Blockchain Federation, when asked. Energy is mainly needed for mining (see box) – and in Switzerland, almost nobody mines Bitcoin. It is particularly important that mining takes place in countries where energy costs are low.
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That’s why Bitcoin needs so much electricity
Bitcoin payments are not confirmed by banks and financial service providers but by a computer network distributed around the world. This so-called mining requires a lot of computing power. The size of the Bitcoin network also ensures high power consumption: According to “Coinmarketcap”, Bitcoin is the world’s largest cryptocurrency with a current market share of around 39 percent.
