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What sort of crypto? Just hiding the ledger behind SSL or encrypting the data is not what makes the "crypto" in cryptocurrency.

Neither does calling it crypto, which stands for cryptography. Call it distributed ledger technology or blockchain for specific popular variations.

Unlike a centralized ledger, a distributed ledger could not exist without cryptography.

I would strongly disagree here. Decentralization, though a term fraught with poorly acknowledged and contradictory premises, is essentially the defining value proposition of cryptocurrency.

Take away decentralization (which I would be more comfortable calling "aspirational decentralization" to reflect actual practice) and cryptocurrency is indistinguishable from conventional electronic currency.

Well, Nakamoto consensus or practical byzantine fault tolerance is decentralization. It's literally how groups of nodes come to consensus.