Question as an Outsider

Hey crypto community,

I was hoping you guys could answer/explain some things to me.

I'll preference this by saying that my exposure to the crypto community has been almost exclusively highly negative. But I'm trying to hear the other side. So this post is coming from a place of a genuine desire to understand and clear misconceptions I may have.

My best friend wants to get it into it and I'm trying to understand it because from my purely negative view its hard to understand why

I tried to do research but its a bit hard as the answers I get seem to be quite extreme and don't address grey areas or areas that I also don't love about crypto.

I'll number the questions to make it easier.

1. I've always been told crypto is bad for the environment. I'm pretty sure that's not debatable. But one of the arguements thats brought up is that a lot of things are bad for the environment. However, from my perspective, theres a difference between cars and crypto. Cars are vital for transportation, where as crypto seems to be bad just for the sake of existing. What benefit does crypto have that justifies its environmental cost?

2. In my experiance, the crypto community has been one of the main groups of people pushing NFTs, A.I, and harrassing the art community. I'm an artist and I've seen the damage tech bros have done to the art community. This is the primary area where my view of crypto has been tainted. From my perspective, engaging with crypto currency directly funds the harm being done to artists. I was able to find answers on things like crime usage of crypto, but finding answers on crypto and the art community is messy. I'm wondering if my experiance is due to a vocal minority, or is the crypto community is genuinely that anti art? I hope I worded that right.

3. If you were to try and sell me on crypto, what could you say that excludes monetary gain. Basically, outside of the two things above, is there anything you would tell me to at least help me see crypto in a neutral light?

I'm genuinely trying to understand and trying to see the other perspective on the matter. I figured coming straight to you guys would be the best bet to hear right from the people invovled.