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> "existing solutions which don’t burn energy"

Like what?

Most computer programs don't rely on brute-forcing hashes to produce results.

Programs that don't require brute-force commonly use many times less energy than programs that do rely on brute force.

This extra cost is often seen as wasteful.

>"Programs that don't require brute-force commonly use many times less energy than programs that do rely on brute force."

Can you give an example of a program that gives similar results?

Do you think these questions are clever? How about YOU give an example for a crypto use case that can't be achieved with traditional methods?

A digital, decentralized currency. If you want to solve the double-spend problem, you need some kind of economically incentivized block inclusion lottery.

It is a currency that acts like gold over the internet, ie no chargebacks and (is expected to) appreciate over time as more dollars/etc are created.

Many of the things that people want to use smart contracts for can be implemented using a model involving some degree of trust between vetted participants. Anything involving a distributed value chain for an industry, for example.

How much energy does generating this trust require?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com