In order to be most useful for testing, a testnet should copy the technical characteristics of the tested blockchain as much as possible, including the PoW scheme.
I fully agree with this. Make the mining exactly the same as Bitcoin, so people can specifically test their stuff and then switch over to mainnet with confidence.
So, attaching a value to testnet tokens would mean that two blockchains would compete over the same hashing resources, but without any innovation that could possibly stem from that competition.
Bitcoin Testnet is the place to be innovative first. This will flow into Bitcoin after it is tested. This is obviously a good thing.
They may compete with each other in terms of short-term value, but that isn't possible to prevent when there is a demand for a product (Bitcoin Testnet) that people think will help test and increase the value of something they love (Bitcoin). People are normally really excited about whatever product they are testing as well, examples:
OPNet.org,
Yala.org,
citrea.xyz, and more.
Bitcoin is seen (at the moment) as having long-term value. Bitcoin Testnet does not need to attempt to give that vibe. This can easily be achieved with firm "abandonment" dates. This puts Bitcoin Testnet in a different field of Altcoins that has never been attempted... it'll work I think.
I don't see how this could do anything but harm these blockchains.
It's kinda too fucking bad tbh... people are free to do what they want with this type of cryptocurrency by design. You know... permissionless and boardless...