The potential applications of cryptocurrencies are far-ranging. Sadly, however, the current actual applications seems to be mostly just get-rich-quick schemes a

The potential applications of cryptocurrencies are far-ranging. Sadly, however, the current actual applications seems to be mostly just get-rich-quick schemes and highly speculative investing that's stimulated by the extreme volatility. If the crazy stuff settles down, it might maybe someday become an actual currency that people can use to exchange legit goods and services safely. Currency should be boring. I wonder a lot if the crazy aspects of crypto currency are by design or if I utterly misunderstand even the fundamental nature of currency. For one thing, why have the computational simulacrum of mining? Why does crypto currency NEED to use outrageous amounts of power solving puzzles to "mine" bitcoins? Is this manufactured scarcity really needed to bootstrap it as a currency? The white papers I've seen don't seem to address that kind of stuff, but are perfectly happy to obfuscate the "why" aspects.