I don't see it as waste, I see it as the cost of decentralized trust (no such thing as free lunch).
The way I see it, it's either "burn" the energy in proof of work (the machines leave behind only heat and bitcoin) or let a closed institution take this energy to provide this trust.
In the end, it's all tradeoffs and incentives decided by politics and made possible by technologies.
The way I see it, it's either "burn" the energy in proof of work (the machines leave behind only heat and bitcoin) or let a closed institution take this energy to provide this trust.
In the end, it's all tradeoffs and incentives decided by politics and made possible by technologies.