Formation of a block and verification of the transactions within carries a reward for the miner. After all, they use their resources read electricity, equipment, etc. to solve complex math problems to get your transaction onto the blockchain. The most popular cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, relies on a public, distributed, digital ledger system or blockchain that requires participating computers to crank out tremendously energy-intensive calculations. Computers that successfully complete these calculations get to validate transactions for the public ledger and get their own, new bitcoins in return—known as “mining” the currency. The bar for validating transactions rises constantly, and these days mining a single bitcoin requires more electricity than the typical American household uses over several years, according to a 2021 New York Times analysis.