Bitcoin Mining Is America's Most Misunderstood Industry

It's more like an extension of the energy industry. It allows energy producers to sell energy on a blockchain instead of a local grid.

In that sense, it distorts the energy market by inviting speculation on the value of that digitized energy. Why would anyone want digital energy that can't actual power anything? To sell to a bigger sucker.

The unfortunate and widely-bemoaned consequence is that energy prices are artificially inflated and life-destroying energy sources (like coal) become profitable again.