> the smart contracts might make 99% of transactions much more efficient The entire point of proof-of-work is that it is inefficient, by design. Efficiency is

> the smart contracts might make 99% of transactions much more efficient The entire point of proof-of-work is that it is inefficient, by design. Efficiency is counteracted: Advances in technology that lead to more efficient mining techniques directly mean the difficulty for the next block being adjusted up. Operating on traditional databases (where automation is regularly implemented, too) is orders of magnitude more efficient. Because like most other things other than proof-of-work, those processes directly benefit from getting more efficient.