re: Why are so many ppl still hung up on the “non-physicality” or “non-productivity” of BTC?

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You are correct that it currently takes massive amounts of energy to mine (not much to validate/transact, however). The data doesn't lie. Bitcoin mining accounts for 110 terawatt hours of energy usage per year, or 0.55% of global energy consumption. I understand and recognize the energy usage argument against bitcoin.

There are a couple ways we could debate this. What is your concern with the energy usage?

Is it emissions? That's valid. Estimates are that bitcoin uses anywhere from ~40% to 80~ renewable energy. That number varies based on sources and seasons. That still leaves 20-60% of the energy used for bitcoin to come from non-renewables. That's not great.

Is your concern it drains energy from other uses? That's not economically advantageous for miners. They'd much rather use cheap, excess energy in the system, such as excess hydro in rainy seasons that goes to waste or flared natural gas.

If we want to go really deep, how much energy does it take to create and support any usable currency? If we look at the dollar, it's actually inverse from bitcoin. It takes very little energy to create, but it takes massive amounts of energy to support the military and it takes massive amounts of energy in the banking sector to transact and verify.

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