It's that the current use cases can be either replaced by preexisting less compute-intensive tech, or that the usage is just meaningless (gambling-like speculation, failed attempt at anonymity, tax avoidance, etc).
However my comment is as well a call to everybody to think about it!
I know I'm not very brilliant, so if anybody can do a favor to the world and find out something interesting, I'd be extremely happy :)
"It's that the current use cases can be either replaced by preexisting less compute-intensive tech, or that the usage is just meaningless (gambling-like speculation, failed attempt at anonymity, tax avoidance, etc)."
The fact that you've binned all the usage into the "meaningless" category means you don't understand the use case at all. It's an alternative to the current hegemonic global financial system centrally controlled by the USA. You might think it's useless but plenty of people disagree and are using it in a meaningful way.
You put on a facade of humility and objectivity but your bias against cryptocurrency is pretty blatant.
People are burning coal to mine virtual coins, so yes I am biased against that until I see any real benefit.
Can you call this biased?
And what you call financial hegemony is only the corollary of the commercial interconnection between world's countries, and the fact that the USA manage the biggest lender bank ever (the IMF).
That would still be the same using a BTC-based IMF.
You come off as rather disingenuous in your way of conversation; pretending on one hand that you don't really know that much or have an opinion but in reality, it's something you've done a considerable amount of research in and have a strong opinion on. It's almost like you're a honeypot encouraging people to argue with you. It screams bad faith discussion and I just don't like it. Be honest in who you are, what you know, and what you stand for.
PS: There would be no BTC-based IMF, just like there's no gold-based IMF. That's literally the whole point of Bitcoin - decentralized finance with no need for an InternationalMonetaryFund regulating its monetary policy.
What I honestly don't know is if there exist useful algorithms making usage of all these hashes produced by BTC-mining machines.
It's a very precise challenge. And it could change the face of the industry. I'm for real.
For example, any possible usage in mathematics? Or maybe in physics, by switching in a different space to perform the calculations? I'm just throwing ideas.
Figure a world where you cannot use these machines for BTC anymore, because "regulations". Then, what do you do with them? Throw them? What a waste!
I'd say that the cryptography and computer science field as a whole have tremendously benefitted from cryptocurrency indirectly. It has led to numerous new cryptographic protocols that are being used outside of blockchain. POW is an effective tool being used by websites to fight DDOS attacks and spam. Zero knowledge proofs that were originally designed for Proof of stake are being used for credit cards. Internet security is being reworked from scratch to address the many security issues that blockchain has uncovered.
It's been hugely beneficial for science from a theoretical and academic POV. Just like space exploration has no obvious benefits but fertilizes the field of engineering with new technology, cryptocurrency is currently doing the same to Computer Science.
And E-waste is a huge problem in general, it's not specific to bitcoin. Online gaming with powerful GPUs has zero benefit to society and also generates lots of useless energy consumption and e-waste. Why don't we brick all of the playstations instead of a whole financial ecosystem?
It's that the current use cases can be either replaced by preexisting less compute-intensive tech, or that the usage is just meaningless (gambling-like speculation, failed attempt at anonymity, tax avoidance, etc).
However my comment is as well a call to everybody to think about it!
I know I'm not very brilliant, so if anybody can do a favor to the world and find out something interesting, I'd be extremely happy :)