​
10,000x More Efficient Than Bitcoin

The Simple Math:
  • Bitcoin: 1 computer → 1 chain → 5 transactions per second
  • Quai: 1 computer → 3 chains → 50,000 transactions per second
Same energy input, 10,000x more useful output. That’s the power of merged mining combined with sharding. Your Impact:
  • Bitcoin transaction: ~487 kWh (powers a home for 2 weeks)
  • Quai transaction: ~0.05 kWh (charges your phone twice)

​
How We Achieved This

Three Innovations Working Together:
  1. Merged mining: Mine 3 chains with one computation
  2. Sharding: Process transactions in parallel
  3. PoEM consensus: Eliminate wasted work from forks
The Result: The most energy-efficient Proof-of-Work blockchain ever created, without sacrificing security.

​
Why Energy Matters

Energy expenditure is the only known objectively verifiable mechanism to link the security and scarcity of a currency to the constraints of the physical world. The scarcity of rare Earth metals is protected only by the limited profitability of expending energy to physically extract those metals from the Earth or space. The scarcity of fiat currencies is ensured by indirect energy spends in the form of politics, bureaucracies, and armed conflict. The Physics of Value: Everything valuable requires energy to create or protect:
  • Gold: Energy to mine and refine
  • Fiat currency: Energy spent on politics, bureaucracies, and armed conflict
  • Bitcoin: Energy to compute and secure
Energy expenditure is the only objectively verifiable mechanism to link security and scarcity to the physical world. Quai’s Philosophy: We don’t try to eliminate the energy-value connection (that’s impossible). Instead, we optimize it to get maximum utility from every joule spent. Efficiency Gains:
  1. Hash reuse: Every computation checks 3 difficulty levels
  2. Fork elimination: No energy wasted on orphaned blocks
  3. Optimized routing: Miners self-organize for minimal latency
  4. Result: Same security, fraction of the energy per transaction

​
Environmental Benefits of Proof-of-Work

Proof-of-Work creates strong incentives that align miners and the global environment. This relationship is commonly misunderstood - PoW mining actually drives renewable energy adoption because miners need the cheapest possible energy, which increasingly means renewables. Unlike data centers or factories that require constant, reliable power, miners can operate with intermittent energy. This unique flexibility makes them perfect partners for renewable energy grids.

​
Renewable Energy Partnership

The integration of renewable energy into electrical grids creates a challenge: solar panels produce energy when the sun shines (not always when needed) and wind turbines generate power when wind blows (unpredictable). Grids must maintain perfect balance between supply and demand or risk blackouts. Mining provides an elegant solution by offering flexible demand that can instantly adjust to energy availability. Miners can consume excess renewable energy that would otherwise be wasted and can reduce consumption during peak demand. In Texas (July 2022), Bitcoin miners using 1 GW of power instantly reduced consumption during a heat wave, helping prevent grid failure and demonstrating mining’s value as a grid stabilization tool.

​
Stranded Energy Recovery

Proof-of-Work mining provides a unique solution for stranded energy - energy resources that cannot be economically utilized due to lack of infrastructure. Examples include methane flaring at remote oil wells, isolated hydroelectric dams without transmission lines, and landfill gas emissions. Currently, regulatory agencies require venting or flaring of stranded methane to reduce environmental impact, but this still creates significant emissions. The Department of Energy has specifically called for “modular technologies that are inexpensive to build and can be easily moved” to convert stranded gas into value. Mining operations offer exactly this solution: portable, modular containers that can profitably consume stranded energy anywhere. Instead of flaring methane into the atmosphere, mining converts it into computational work and economic value, significantly reducing environmental impact while creating economic incentives for capture rather than release.

​
Driving Energy Innovation

The competitive nature of mining creates a powerful incentive for energy innovation. Miners constantly seek the most efficient energy sources to maintain profitability, creating a natural selection pressure favoring renewable energy development. This dynamic is already visible in practice. University of Cambridge research found that 39% of Bitcoin mining uses renewable energy, primarily hydroelectric. By 2021, the Bitcoin Mining Council reported this figure had risen to 57% - achieved without any regulatory mandates, purely through economic incentives. As renewable energy costs continue to decline relative to fossil fuels, this trend accelerates. Miners’ relentless pursuit of cheaper energy directly funds and incentivizes renewable energy development, creating a positive feedback loop that benefits both the mining industry and global sustainability efforts.

​
The 10,000x Calculation

Assumptions:
  1. Equal total energy usage between Bitcoin and Quai networks
  2. Both networks operating at maximum capacity
Bitcoin:
  • Maximum throughput: 5 transactions per second
  • Annual transactions: 157.7 million
  • Energy per transaction: 486.62 kWh
Quai:
  • Maximum throughput: 50,000 transactions per second
  • Annual transactions: 1.58 trillion
  • Energy per transaction: 0.05 kWh
Result: Quai is 9,732x more energy efficient per transaction than Bitcoin