Let’s assume a future ethereum is a PoS network that awards new coins to ether holders in proportion to their holdings.
In other words, everyone holding X coins will have Cx coins after the next coin reward, (where C is some constant). Energy is transformed from old coins to new coins, which are held by the same people.
Without a flow of energy it is difficult to see the point of creating new coins in a PoS system. Supposedly the purpose is to find consensus on the growth of a blockchain. This remains to be seen.
Proof-of-work coins
The creation process of PoW coins (like bitcoin) consumes large amounts of electrical energy.
Bitcoin fans might be tempted to assume that this energy is completely transformed into economic energy of new coins and that, therefore, pre-existing coins do not lose energy.
However, the mining process also creates heat. If the energy in the heat is
equal to the electrical energy consumed, then the energy in new coins must come from pre-existing coins. Fortunately, this seems unlikely, since machines tend not to be used if energy input is completely lost to heat.
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