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this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2023
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As a programmer, the biggest problem I have with crypto is that it adds an (I believe) unnecessary pressure on either compute (for proof of work) or storage (for proof of stake) prices for everyone else in the world, for what is seemingly not a huge gain.
Proof of work in particular is awful, because one of the biggest problems that we actually have in the real world is global warming and adding a financial incentive to using more power is exactly the wrong direction we need to be going in. I realize that a lot of crypto is moving away from proof of work, but it's still there.
Proof of work isn't a necessary part of it. You need to answer the question "how does money get created". Proof of work is a very robust way to create and allocate new money. Fiat currencies just answer " i nominate one entity who is allowed to create as much money as he likes”. Other answers are possible.
It's also possible to use a proof of work algorithm which doesn't consume much energy. The usual proposal is for a "proof of doing work and allocating RAM and storing something on disk". Bitcoin just chose the most robust and simplest algorithm, which does consume a lot of energy.
In a future currency, the proof of work algorithm could allocate money to people who sequester carbon or plant trees. The thing about inventing a new type of money is that you can do anything. Bitcoin is a great leap of progress for humanity, but has a couple of flaws. Those flawed features can be reinvented, while still keeping all the benefits.