Litecoin [BTC] and Bitcoin [BCH] Cash Total Energy Consumption via Mining

The total hash rate of a cryptocurrency can be ambiguous metrics to understand the total amount of resources spent to mine the currency.

Currently, the total power consumption for Bitcoin mining is higher than 52 TWh and less than 73 TWh. The total power is considerably higher than all other altcoins.

Moreover, Bitcoin has established itself as a store of value. The development of the second layer in Bitcoin [BTC] is on-going with Lightning Network (LN) implementation. However, it still lacks as a medium of exchange. Hence, cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, XRP, and so on are acting as better alternatives for ‘cash.’

The number of transactions in a network can be deceiving if proponents of a blockchain project are clogging the network. However, I feel that the total mining power lent to the system cannot be altered.

The total energy consumption of cryptocurrencies will also be the amount of money invested in the system.

Bitcoin [BCH] Cash Vs. Litecoin [LTC]

Two of the most popular payment cryptocurrencies based on PoW are LTC and BCH. Both act as an efficient means of exchange. Their total market capitalization is also comparable and often found competing with each other.

Hence, to compare their community support or mining power, I tried to estimate the total energy consumption by these two coins.

For the calculation, I assumed that one particular miner is used to mine all the coins. While this varies, the ratio of power to hash is comparable among top miners. Hence, the data is more accurate that one presumes.

Litecoin

Miners: Innosilicon A6, Antminer L5

Hash Rate of miners: 2200 Mh/s, 1473 Mh/s

Power Consumption: 2100 W, 1425 W

The Power/Mh = 0.95-0.96 (~0.955)

The total hash rate of Litecoin = 311.8799 TH/s

Therefore, the total power consumed by the system = 297.84 GW

Bitcoin Cash [BCH]

Bitcoin [BCH] runs on the SHA-256 protocol. Hence, the miners can use the same Bitcoin miners for it.

There are numerous miners in the market. Hence, for calculation purpose, I’ll assume the hash rate of Antminer S9 is 12.5 TH/s. Moreover, the energy efficiency of these top miners is comparable due to competition.

Power consumption: 1375 W

Power/THash = 98.21

Total Hash Power of BCH = 2.55 EH/s

Therefore, the total power = 250.4355 MW

Hence, the total power consumption of Litecoin is 1000 times more than Bitcoin Cash [BCH]. This can mean two things,

The community support to Litecoin [LTC] is higher

Bitcoin [BCH] is more efficient, but I lack the skills or parameters to analyze this fact.

Furthermore, for two cryptocurrencies whose market capitalization are so close, the discrepancy in the total power speaks volume about the money spent on the system.