Defending the Cryptomining Energy-Usage

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You hear that 'one cryptomining transaction (transferring any cryptocurrency-amount from one account/wallet to another) takes an amount of energy equal to that used to keep the lights on in a small country!' And yes, that does sound like "a waste of energy" compared to the relatively-small amount it takes to write a check, give it to a payee, who gives it to their bank, who calls the original bank to verify that the money's there & transfers the money from the first account to the payee's account (which is a little more-complicated than that, but still takes FAR less energy than 'the whole blockchain-verification process!') But I think of the movie HACKERS (with Jonny Lee Miller & Angelina Jolie). I think their main trick was 'taking less-than-half-a-cent from each of BILLIONS of bank-accounts'---still a BAD WRONG thing to do ... But ... How much energy are people putting TOWARD 'wastes of energy' like entertainment & comfort & such things that--though you like them every moment you have them--are GONE that very instant unless you continue using them? Now A LOT of cryptomining is done by 'computer-networks that devote ALL their processing-power to "the giant guessing-game that secures the blockchain,"' but 'the program I'm working with' just adds a little mining-program to your browser (using what BitDegree calls CPU-mining---the slowest method, but not requiring any equipment beside the program(s) you can download for free). https://www.bitdegree.org/crypto/tutorials/how-to-mine-cryptocurrency In order for my CPU-mining to be 'of any effect,' I have to remember a motto I take from HACKERS: whenever any opposition rises (telling me "You can't succeed with this kind of operation!"), I respond, "You're right, I can't; WE CAN " Maybe it takes 'a whole country's-worth (or an American city's-worth) of energy IN TOTAL,' but it's just a little extra nudge out of each of the machines my fellow miners and I were 'wasting our time' with anyway!