Of course it is, Richard. I'm repeatedly agreeing that its energy usage is a really unpleasant factor of its existence.
But surely it rather clearly proves that plenty of people do feel they need it though? One of the more easily justified uses is in Venezuela - scores of people are using Bitcoin to avoid the hyperinflation issues of the Bolivar as citizens feel it's a more stable store of value.
Could you therefore not make the same argument against fast fashion for example, its impact on the environment is horrific amongst a whole host of other awful things from slave labour to inundating the third world with discarded clothes - I don't really feel the world needs it - is the solution just "getting rid of it" for something that clearly has a lot of demand? Surely not. It's so much more complex than that, in the same way that distilling Bitcoin down to its energy consumption is equally not as simple as a non-contextualised headline makes it sound.
I don't know why my posts seem to be perceived as having a relaxed opinion on Bitcoin's impact - I'm saying let's have a rational conversation about the issues it has, the potential solutions, without being clouded by grand statements in headlines that don't communicate reality all that well. As another example of why the electricity figure should be queried is we have no idea what percentage of that electricity is generated renewably - solar bitcoin mines are a thing, and actually there's quite a lot of justification to pursue renewable energy as a source of power for it as the price continues falling below the cost of fossil fuel derived electricity.
So, like Formula 1 being responsible for most of the huge leaps in more efficient driving, Bitcoin mining could be a catalyst in pursuing electricty generation that's better for the globe. There is so much to learn from this particular crisis that merely "shutting it down" (which isn't possible anyway) feels more like a waste of incomplete progress to me.