as far as calling Bitcoin as "wasteful", i would completely agree! i would even say it is useless and harmful for the whole world (and crypto especially) as it is right now, since the rest of the useful (or potentially useful) projects are also being judged through lenses distorted by this failed experiment. it was a great conception but we should move on!
stop investing in a bullshit coin which promises micro transactions for miner fee (currently 50 cents!) and after 6 blocks or 60 minutes (or in certain cases 120 blocks) waiting time. yes, i know about lightning network, sure. it is perfect... i definitely can not think of any better thing out there but lightning... (sarcasm)
on the other hand politicians should not judge a whole "industry" after a singe (or a couple of) rubbish actor! but what do we expect from politicians after all? i'm utterly surprised that they can talk about 21st century tech at all! they are the falling stars of isms. should we expect anything more than misunderstanding and desperate tries to regulate the ongoing tech explosion? nah.
what we can do, is to vote for useful tech, useful coins, useful people! not by derivatives but, that's how we shape the future, in my opinion.