Quantify energy savings from reversible computing in Bitcoin mining

Determine the magnitude of energy savings achievable by implementing reversible computing for Bitcoin Proof-of-Work mining relative to conventional ASIC-based Bitcoin miners, using rigorous empirical measurements or validated models under realistic hardware and workload assumptions.

Background

The survey highlights that some proposed energy-efficient approaches for blockchain lack empirical validation. Among them, reversible computing has been suggested as a way to reduce the energy consumption of Bitcoin mining, but the actual quantitative benefits have not been established.

ASIC-based miners currently dominate Bitcoin mining due to their efficiency. Establishing a precise comparison against reversible-computing-based designs would clarify whether reversible computing offers meaningful energy reductions for Proof-of-Work mining and inform the feasibility of this approach for green blockchain initiatives.

References

For instance, the use of reversible computing has been proposed for Bitcoin mining, but it is currently not known with precision how much energy would be saved in comparison with traditional ASIC-based mining [Heinonen2022].

— A Comprehensive Survey on Green Blockchain: Developing the Next Generation of Energy Efficient and Sustainable Blockchain Systems  (2410.20581 - Fernández-Caramés et al., 2024) in Subsection "Other challenges", Section "Challenges and Limitations of implementing Green Blockchains"