I have friends that joke that Crypto was introduced by alien lifeforms or time travelers as a way to burn our environment down before reaching Stage 2 of the Kardashev scale[0].

Human greed is too powerful for us to ignore the negative impacts and it is destined to destroy humanity. I work in a related space so I don't agree but it is interesting to think about.

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale