In the current economic system new national currency is created through 3 ways. 1. By banks when they extend a loan (likewise it gets destroyed upon repayment)

In the current economic system new national currency is created through 3 ways. 1. By banks when they extend a loan (likewise it gets destroyed upon repayment) 2. By the government when it deficit spends into the economy (destroyed through taxation) 3. By converting foreign currency through running an export surplus (ejected by import surplus) It is worth noting that appart from printing actual dollar bills (typically <5% of total money) the production cost (“seigniorage”) is effectively infinitesimal. So yes, both gold and bitcoin are stupendously wasteful when your goal is to create currency for transactions. But at least in the case of gold the material is useful and you can use it to diversify your asset stock.