It's only wasteful if you consider that bitcoin is of no value. If you only look at bitcoin as a money transfer system, requiring computationally difficult proo

It's only wasteful if you consider that bitcoin is of no value. If you only look at bitcoin as a money transfer system, requiring computationally difficult proofs is at the heart of what makes the system trustworthy. Do we think the same when we talk about all the vast amounts of energy and money spent trying to secure bank transactions? It's only a waste of money and energy if you consider that these things have no value. Even if we only consider the protection of physical money and valuables: how much energy is spent in making these vaults? How much money does it cost to protect them? It's only worth it if you consider that what they protect is more valuable than the cost of protecting them. In the end, whatever is in that vault is just made of bits of metal and dead tree pulp.