> I can imagine people mine to keep coins alive. I don't think that's a solid argument. Some coins were structured such that there would be a finite supply (21

> I can imagine people mine to keep coins alive. I don't think that's a solid argument. Some coins were structured such that there would be a finite supply (21M in the case of bitcoin IIRC). The health of a coin seems to me to be its transaction volume, and somewhat related its ability to be directly exchanged for physical goods or services. So back to a previous user's suggestion: instead of buying energy to mine coins at a loss, one could instead buy the coins at a lower price which seems on many levels to make more sense than to continue mining.