Bitcoin miners do not help stabilize the power grid and actually increase nighttime electricity prices by 13.5%.
April 25, 2026
Original Paper
The Flexibility Illusion of Cryptocurrency Mining
SSRN · 6633578
The Takeaway
The cryptocurrency industry claims its massive energy use provides flexibility by shutting down during peak demand. The data shows that miners actually behave as a rigid and constant demand that forces the grid to rely more on fossil fuels. Instead of helping transition to renewable energy, they create a permanent floor of high electricity usage. This constant demand drives up costs for regular residents during the night when prices should be at their lowest. The stabilization narrative is a marketing tool that masks a more expensive and dirtier reality. Crypto mining is a burden on the energy system rather than a solution for it.
From the abstract
Flexible demand is increasingly important in energy systems with high renewable penetration. Bitcoin mining is often cited as a large, theoretically flexible load. Despite electricity consumption rivaling medium-sized industrial economies, the energy market behavior and impacts of Bitcoin miners remain largely unexplored. We exploit the large-scale relocation of Bitcoin mining to Texas, which became the world's largest mining hub following China's 2021 ban, to estimate its effects on local whole