I understand the arguments that people have against proof of work but unfortunately they are extremely short sighted with respect to the whole system.  You could say the same thing about all the infrastructure surrounding gold, but crypto-currencies and gold have serve a very valuable purpose that gets lost in the details: they have many of the properties of ideal money.<p>Gold isn&#x27;t as valuable as it is today for any other reason. You can dream about a theoretical currency with a proof of work that accomplishes something but it won&#x27;t have the same properties of ideal money until it is more widely used, mined and attacked.<p>Also don&#x27;t forget that space heaters _actually_ do nothing but generate &#x27;waste heat&#x27; and no one seems worried about those.