[snitko]

Have a sense of proportion. Think about how much electricity, paper, waste and money is spent to keep up the banking industry, anti-fraud departments, AML/KYC compliance teams, clerks and all that show. Bitcoin is actually an improvement.

[wmf]

It's funny you mention anti-fraud departments and AML/KYC compliance teams since Bitcoin does not provide those and thus their cost exists in addition to the cost of mining.

[umanwizard]

But Bitcoin doesn’t provide the services that the banking industry does. Bitcoin is more comparable to physical gold than to a modern bank account. Banking was built on top of gold (and later fiat) because it provides valuable services. If bitcoin becomes a widely-used currency then the same banking system will be built on top of Bitcoin.

[drngdds]

I feel like preventing fraud and money laundering (incidentally, two things you can't prevent when using cryptocurrency) is actually not wasteful

[Nursie]

Nope, Bitcoin is much worse than that.