Bitcoin's electricity consumption peaked in December 2025, at about 190 TWh.
Last checked ·
What the record actually says
The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index did not peak in December 2025. In the index's own published daily series the best-guess annualised estimate reached its maximum of 227.43 TWh on 18 October 2025. December 2025 ranged from 189.56 to 211.75 TWh — between 7 and 17 percent below the October maximum — so the month named as the peak was already part of the decline, and the figure named for it is the bottom of that month's range rather than a peak. Whether Bitcoin's actual electricity consumption peaked is a separate question this verdict does not reach: the index is a model, and what is established here is what the index published.
Why it matters to ordinary people
The energy figure is the number used to argue that Bitcoin should be restricted, taxed or banned, and the number miners use to argue the opposite. When a peak is named in the wrong month, both arguments are built on a date that the source does not support. A reader who wants to judge the energy question should be able to see the index's own maximum and check it in one command.
How it is usually mis-stated
“Cambridge data shows Bitcoin's energy use peaked at 190 TWh in December 2025.”
The index's published maximum is 227.43 TWh on 18 October 2025. 190 TWh is near December's floor, not any peak.
“Bitcoin's electricity consumption has fallen to the high-130 TWh range in mid-2026.”
Not supportable from the published series, which as retrieved on 19 September 2026 ends on 17 March 2026 at 148.18 TWh. The site's live headline figure that day read 157.54 TWh. The desk can neither confirm nor refute a mid-2026 high-130s reading from the published data.
The primary record
Contradicts · Retrieved
Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index — published daily estimate seriesDaily best-guess annualised consumption series (5-cent parameterisation), rows dated 18 Oct 2025 and 1 to 31 Dec 2025
Contradicts · Retrieved
Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index — published daily estimate seriesDaily series, December 2025 rows: minimum 189.56, maximum 211.75
The strongest account that disagrees
No opposing account has been recorded for this claim yet.
Verdict history
Every status this claim has carried, with the date and the reason it changed. A verdict that has never moved has one entry.
- FalseLast checked
First verdict on file; unchanged since publication. Changes are also logged in Corrections.
A claim may only be marked verified, verified with precision, or false when at least one primary record supports that verdict. Commentary and analysis, however respected, never settle a factual claim. A claim about monetary history or monetary theory may not reach a settled status until the strongest opposing account has been recorded, or until the search for one has been described and come back empty. A status change is recorded as a dated correction on the claim and every published piece that relied on it is re-checked.