Cost of maintaining the network: NEM vs Bitcoin
In this blog post I’m going to calculate what the actual costs are to maintain the BTC network and the NEM network. I will compare the current power usage and estimate what the usage will be when the NEM network becomes larger and is of equal size (amount of nodes).
Disclaimers:
Please keep in mind that Bitcoin nodes are vastly different than NEM nodes. And that Bitcoin mining is vastly different than NEM harvesting. Read further here: https://blog.nem.io/what-are-poi-and-vesting/
Also this is a comparison of the whole network, not just the miners/harvesters or the nodes.
Also there is a big difference between the networks, only 12 nodes on average are actually mining in the Bitcoin network (in mining pools), all the miners work through these nodes. In the NEM network every node that has a harvester active (which is nearly all of them) is securing the network. This means that vastly more nodes are securing the NEM network than the Bitcoin network (even at this moment), which means much more decentralisation and security is in the NEM network.
I will do all calculations with an average cost of 0.10 $/kWh.
Bitcoin:
Bitcoin works with POW which means that the miner with the highest hashing power has the biggest chance of winning the block chain award and the fees in that block.
According to the website http://realtimebitcoin.info the bitcoin network uses approximately 2500MW (= 2 500 000 kW).
0.1 $/kWh * 2 500 000 kW * 24 h = 6 000 000 $/day
6 000 000 $/day * 365 days = 2 190 000 000 $/year
NEM:
NEM works with POI which means that the harvesting is based on the amount of coins in the wallet and the transaction of that wallet in the network. It also works with delegated harvesting which means that multiple accounts can be harvesting on a single node.
To see how POI works please read here: https://blog.nem.io/what-are-poi-and-vesting/
At the moment there are 424 nodes online in the NEM network. A node usually consists of a cheap VPS that on estimation uses an average of 25 Watt (= 0.025 kW).
0.1 $/kWh x 0.025 kW x 424 nodes x 24 h = 25 $/day
25 $/day x 365 days = 9285 $/year
If we calculate per node:
0.1 $/kWh x 0.025 kW x 24 = 0.06 $/node/day
0.06 $/day x 365 days = 21.9 $/node/year
Let’s assume the NEM network becomes much larger, maybe even as large as the Bitcoin network. Because of the difference in nodes between NEM and Bitcoin nodes can’t be equally compared, so I’m assuming 50 000 are used in the NEM network when it’s used as much as the Bitcoin network. Bitcoin in comparison has 5 800 nodes (but not every node is mining) and on estimation 10 000 to even 100 000 individual miners mining in the pools.
0.1 $/kWh x 0.025 kW x 50 000 nodes x 24 h = 3 000 $/day
341 $/day x 365 days = 1 095 000 $/year
Comparing NEM to Bitcoin:
Current usage:
2 190 000 000 $/year (Bitcoin) / 9285 $/year (NEM) = 235 864
Which means that the Bitcoin network uses 235 864 times more power than the NEM network at the moment.
If we compare with comparable network size:
2 190 000 000 $/year (Bitcoin) / 1 095 000 $/year (NEM 50 000 Nodes) = 2 000
Which means that the Bitcoin network would use 2 000 times more power estimated than the NEM network. Please keep in mind that the Bitcoin network hashing power is still rising exponentially.
