The bitcoin computer network currently uses as much electricity as the country of Denmark.

According to environment news site Grist, if the currency’s growth continues on its current trajectory, it will use as much as the entire USA in just 18 months’ time.

And by February 2020 the environmental news site claims bitcoin would use as much electricity as the entire world does today.

This could force world leaders to abandon efforts to reduce fossil fuel use, as bitcoin’s demands will require so much extra energy on top of what is already needed worldwide.

Every bitcoin transaction requires enough energy to power nine homes in the US for one day.

This is due to the complex process of bitcoin “mining”. Computers have to solve maths problems in order to create more of the currency.

However the problems become more and more difficult as bitcoin grows - increasing the demand for computing power.

The computing power of the bitcoin network is already 100,000 times larger than the world’s 500 fastest supercomputers.

This draws in electricity from all over the world to bitcoin mining.

In Venezuela, bitcoin mining operations have caused blackouts across the country.

While in China, bitcoin mines take energy from enormous hydroelectric dams - valuable sources of renewable energy.

The amount of energy needed for bitcoin will become greater than what’s available in the coming months.

New power plants will need to be created in order to meet demands, potentially making it harder to give up fossil fuels as world leaders pledge to reduce reliance on the damaging fuels.

The price of bitcoin has skyrocketed over 2017, reaching over $10,000 for the first time last week.

Its price almost hit $12,000 over the weekend - a remarkable feat for a currency that was worth less than $1,000 at the beginning of the year.

It is set to become part of Wall Street financial trading later this month, potentially pushing the price up even further.