There were plenty, basically none of these savants understood economics so they didn't build a demand model, they only built a supply model. So people got paid

There were plenty, basically none of these savants understood economics so they didn't build a demand model, they only built a supply model. So people got paid in coin and just flooded the market until it was worth nothing. Crypto mining rigs are proving far more productive than Seti or Folding@Home ever did. Economic pressures push the real energy heavy miners into places with renewable energy and also repurposing waste byproducts into electricity, so this is actually one of the most useful and cleanest sector on the planet, ironically the opposite of what people are saying. Protip: Headlines only tell you "how much" energy is being used and not the source, and this is very intentional.