As a computer science concept it's rather mundane. We know what merkle trees are.
It's an extremely wasteful form of computing. Mining is an exercise in wastefulness. Proof-of-work is one of the worst concepts I've ever seen.
Ah, Tether.
a practical, robust solution to a long-standing computer science problem (byzantine generals) that directly results in an entire new branch of computer science and economic sector is hardly mundane. bitcoin solves previously intractable trustless coordination problems. we are only at the early stages of discovering what it makes possible; you are the newspaper editor laughing at the web in 1996.
I'm talking about all proofs btw. So I'd have the same questions about ethereum. This is very flawed computer science.
Seems pretty amazing.
While I don't disagree (I think PoW should be carbon-taxed or fully outlawed), a massive portion of the non-crypto economy is intentional waste for social signaling purposes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good