On the other hand, what drives Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is the need for certain properties that conventional currencies don't have - this includes properties some might find undesirable as they mainly benefit crime.
The definition of "crime" itself is murky - are the citizens of sanctioned countries criminals because they're just trying to survive by participating in the global economy despite a stupid feud between governments they have no power to change?
Same thing for drugs - the much of the violence associated with them is caused by their illegality. You decriminalize them and a huge chunk of that violence goes away, and so does the need for cryptocurrencies if people can now legally buy it and can use conventional currencies without fear of repercussions. Violence going away has also a viral effect, as drugs are typically what supports other violent/criminal enterprises (such as weapons smuggling) - if drug operations no longer operate in the shadows, it removes their need for other bad things such as weapons.
If we assume cryptocurrencies are wasteful, we need to obviate the need for them. The cat is out of the bag when it comes to controlling the technology (it's just cryptography at the end of the day, that could theoretically be done on paper even if all computing devices are outlawed), so the best we can do is merely remove any need for it. Put the future of our planet ahead of some government's interests.
The energy cost of cryptocurrencies just represents the effort it takes to provide a currency immune to government interference. If there was an easier way (like if the government didn't interfere with fiat currencies) nobody would use crypto.