I think you are missing the mark a bit. Ethics isn't first and foremost about deciding what should happen, it is about accounting for effects of your actions.

I think you are missing the mark a bit. Ethics isn't first and foremost about deciding what should happen, it is about accounting for effects of your actions. Emerging technology sometimes develops faster than accountability for said technology. That is true of Bitcoin, but also thing like oil and pesticides. Nuclear is a pretty good example. Imagine if nuclear technology wouldn't have the history it has and instead we spent the time since it was invented solving its issues. Energy would probably cost far less than today, which means everything would. The result might be that our standard of living would have been double what it is today (which is hard to quantify, but this is a thought experiment). So it might be alluring to be first, but in the grand scheme of things you are always paying the price in the end. The reason ethics is part of engineering isn't because it is fun, but because you get the best results.