And whereas minting coins in the 17th century required quite a bit of metal, as I pointed out at the beginning, mining crypto token can require quite a bit of energy — a single bitcoin transaction, for example, uses up to 900 kilowatt hours of electricity (in April 2018), enough to power a four-person household for two months.
Separating hidden potentials of new technologies from the hype and excesses is challenging, often arduous. The effects of digital central bank money on the payment system will not be the only consideration for central banks, however. Depending on its concrete design, digital central bank money would provide non-financial corporations and even households with access to the central bank balance sheet.