We have a perfectly good system in place for punishing people who waste energy - it is called "the economy". It applies constant pressure to people who waste things.
If crypto manages to run that gauntlet, there is a good chance that someone with a track record thinks it is socially useful. People confidently declaring that it is useless are in the same bucket as people confidently declaring that the internet was a fad in the first big tech bubble - lacking humility. The truth is we don't know if this (likely outrageously large) bubble is a complete waste or masking something transformative.
If crypto manages to run that gauntlet, there is a good chance that someone with a track record thinks it is socially useful. People confidently declaring that it is useless are in the same bucket as people confidently declaring that the internet was a fad in the first big tech bubble - lacking humility. The truth is we don't know if this (likely outrageously large) bubble is a complete waste or masking something transformative.