&gt;most of the power consumed by the traditional financial system is spent in its capacity as a ubiquitous pillar of modern society<p>Either I missed your point or it would be nice if you brought this back down to Earth. Yes, traditional ledgers help mediate economic exchanges. Bitcoin, as a ledger system, also helps mediate economic exchanges.<p>&gt; ... wherein bitcoin would be completely subsumed were it to become anything more than a technical novelty.<p>You put this forward like we should all nod and say of course. Care to tell us about this scenario?