There is nothing new under the sun.

believing that crypto is the revolution society needs to break free from the Fed / CIA / Deep State / partisan right-left divide / what-have-you, I'm afraid you'll be wrong in the end on that one

I don't believe that. I believe it is a useful financial tool to protect your wealth in a time where the government is hyper aggressive in stealing it. I meant freedom not in the absolute sense, only in the narrow financial one. (and only in the sense that you are able to move/control your money, obviously it doesn't help you against taxation or imprisonment) The real problems are cultural rot and the lack of faith in God. Technology can't fix that.

This forum's main utility is that it allows the community to keep each other up to date on serious current events. It's not really populated by plebs, it's not really a place to convince sheeple of ideologies at the moment, so let's not try to market new paradigms as savior to our problems, and actually be skeptical + philosophical of what it entails. However a good debate needs the thesis and antithesis approach so I appreciate your comments.

I'm explicitly taking a position here so you may see me as not having understood or seen the critical side, but I only take positions after I have already evaluated the pros and cons. Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies have many issues, there is no doubt about it, but the concept is sound and the particulars are always changing (meaning there is the possibility to improve its faults). I don't know why you think I'm trying to convince you of an ideology, as I'm merely pointing out some of the technical errors you are making in your assumptions. Nevertheless I too appreciate the back and forth.

You don't need to understand the technical details of cryptocurrency to really get why it has value. You only need to understand the philosophical characteristics underpinning what money is, and once you understand that, then you just need to evaluate whether it is possible for a digital currency to meet those qualifications. That's what my thinking is based on. What makes it exciting for me is that the digital aspect means it has additional attributes not available to physical materials, like near instant transmission and more explicit ownership (which means better security).