The petrodollar relied on burning significant resources, although its power is waning now. Gold relies on mining. As for Ethereum, it's proof-of-stake, implying

The petrodollar relied on burning significant resources, although its power is waning now. Gold relies on mining. As for Ethereum, it's proof-of-stake, implying it's not decentralized. The only alternative currency that wouldn't burn energy would be shares in transferable energy itself. This would require a global energy grid which we don't have, and are not intelligent enough to seek to develop. Once such a grid exists, then shares in transferable energy would have a relatively stable value.