US GDP per capita

Between 2017 and 2022, the American economy produced more wealth per person and the Bitcoin network consumed more electricity per hash, and the two rose together in a correlation (r = 0.960) that should probably embarrass somebody. The GDP line goes up because we make things; the Bitcoin line goes up because we keep computers warm. These are not the same type of up. The graph does not care.

What actually connects them is the same underlying engine: excess capital looking for somewhere to live. Bitcoin mining electricity consumption climbed from roughly 30 TWh annually to over 150 TWh — more than the entire annual consumption of Argentina — while US GDP per capita rose from about $60,000 to over $75,000 in current dollars. Both tracked the long decade of loose monetary policy, with cryptocurrency hashrate rising during bull runs and subsiding during crashes, always with a slight lag. The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance estimates Bitcoin now consumes about 0.5% of global electricity, roughly the same share as all of the world's dishwashers combined.

The economy produces. The blockchain consumes. One of these feels more like abundance than the other.