I see absolutely no value to cryptocurrency though and cannot think of anything legal that an individual can do with it that they couldn't do with existing currency. People are wasting vast resources on this stupid fad and it needs to stop.
Great! Can I pick a loser that gets outlawed too?
I personally think golf courses are "wasting vast resources on this stupid fad and it needs to stop". Acres of prime real estate, literal tons of artificial fertilizer, absolutely enormous amounts of fresh water, etc. "Absolutely no value", people can go for walks in forests or public sidewalks. Utterly unnecessary and we should stop the vast waste of all those resources.
See, the problem is different people have different priorities. I, for one, do not seek to impose my standards on other people. I might inform them of my opinions and my reasons for them, but if I expect to make my own decisions then I must also tolerate others doing the same even if their decisions are different from mine.
Crypto is no different. It's a new thing, in many ways it hasn't found its niche and become integrated into daily life, but I see more evidence of that every day. I was amazed when I saw a Bitcoin ATM in NYC, but then I was gobsmacked by seeing one in Couer d'Alene Idaho! You say it's a "stupid fad" but that's how the IMSAI 8080 and Apple II seemed when they were released too. I'm sure back then someone claimed "having all that private computing power will enable criminal enterprises" but would
maybe preventing that be worth missing the electronics industry we live in today?
The point is that we cannot predict how new technologies will work out. Might be a net positive, might be a net negative. What we do know from history is that cavalierly and pre-emptorily picking winners and losers based on OUR definition of what's "right" or "wasteful" or "potentially bad" is a dice roll at best. If we're going to start doing that, there's a VERY long list of things we should ban long before crypto gets anywhere near the top of the list.
Personally, I prefer to watch for extreme exceptions but otherwise let things play out. I openly admit my crystal ball is rather hazy... who are we to decide that crypto, or golf courses, are inherently bad if others wish to pursue them?