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Gold mining is wasteful also but it's not fundamentally necessary for gold to exist.

I think the problem with bitcoin waste is that it's proportional to how valuable it is.

Gold only has to be mined once, bitcoin has to be mined every time it changes hands.

I don't think that's strictly true. When the last bitcoin is issued, "mining" per se will cease. But "miners" will still be rewarded by transaction fees.

A distinction without a difference.

You can send an arbitrary about of Bitcoin in an on-chain transaction. Payment channels also allow you to send Bitcoin off-chain.

The computer you used to post this comment uses gold.

Sure, but electronics and other industrial uses for gold are a small percentage of its demand. The demand for those two are 9.1 and 6.2 percent in 2017, respectively, according to Statista. The same stats attribute more than 50% to jewelry.

By volume even 15% is still a shit ton of gold.

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