It can be asserted that they are making diamonds out of 'thick' air. https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/newsreleases/2015/august/co2.html What's fascinating about the crypto space is the attempt to define and limit what it is based on a mindset that is rooted in how things have worked in the past. Personally, I think the growth of p2p networks will bring innovation at a scale we have not witnessed before.
Let me just say that usually when someone types "First off...", there is a follow up with a number 2. Super-easy concept in writing.
This has been done, basically. In Somalia, when the state institutions broke down due to civil war, people started to use forged Somali Shilling notes. Everyone knew they were not real, yet it still worked as a currency to by stuff in local markets. The price ended up being about equal to the costs of making a good real looking counterfeit Shilling-note.
Why would someone pay real note for a counterfeit? Why not just use real banknote instead? Unless real notes were as worthless as the counterfeits.