I've been trying to tell people this for a while now. Bitcoin has to be the most wasteful software project ever made; I'm sure it has indirectly pumped millions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere at this point. And for what? The blockchain is a neat academic piece for which we have yet to find a good use. Bitcoin is not usable as a currency (except for illicit trade) and it never will be. The only thing Bitcoin has ever been good for is as a pump & dump scheme, and the "dump" part already happened anyway.

If we're going to blow so much computer power on raw calculations, we could use it for Folding@home, SETI@home, or any number of other great causes. But this is just a waste.