Let's be realistic here. Buying and selling crypto via Credit Cards or Paypal is a magnet for fraud.
I use bittorrent to download and distribute Linux distributions. Every bit and byte on my harddrive, from the OS to the applications to the data, is either open source, written by me, or paid for. I don't need people who should know better to draw parallels between my completely legal and moral use of bittorret and copyright infringement. And people who have perfectly legitimate and legal use of cryptocurrencies, of which there are many and some might argue more than the use of cash, do not need people who should know better to draw parallels between their usage of technology and anything illegal or immoral.
The only concerning part is "shopping" with crypto, and that's likely going to be restricted to merchants that already have a business agreement with PayPal. Under the hood it need not involve cryptocurrency at all except for displaying prices and debiting balances - instead of showing $XXXX, it shows YYYY_BTC and PayPal has to do figure out the currency conversion price for debiting the customer balance in BTC and crediting the merchant in USD.
Crypto is a magnet for fraud
Pretty much all of the actual uses for cryptocurrency involve some sort of crime (drugs/warez/fraud/child porn).
We've had Bitcoin for 11 years now, and nothing meaningful has changed. It wasn't revolutionary - all it did was introduce the anonymity of cash to the Internet.
At this point it really seems like the "Venezuela is why bitcoin matters" story is a useful emergent PR campaign narrative for the cryptocurrency world to justify their existence.
Yes, Venezuelans want to eat, and yes, Venezuelans would probably convert any crypto into cash ASAP. But also due to the sanctions (first internal from the ill-fated currency exchange control schemes of the Chavez regime, then from the rest of the world) holding onto any amount of currency digitally is very risky- and these are risks that brokers pass down to the common populace in the form of outrageous fees, either explicit or as awful exchange rates. Crypto helps to leverage against that somewhat, and LocalBitcoins' traffic remains considerable [0] to this day. Unfortunately many Venezuelans now conflate shitcoins (e.g. Petro, BCash) with real crypto, and I can't exactly blame them, given how badly the Petro "experiment" ended up like (which, frankly, was just another attempt from the regime to launder money without needing to rely on foreign currency).
If you ask someone if they accept USD they will invariably say yes these days, but cash only. If you want to send or receive hard money digitally, you'll need to have some "contact" to create or manage an US bank account in your stead, and just make do with the constant risk of that money just disappearing one day for whatever reason. And needless to say, holding onto large amounts of cash isn't exactly safe either, as you run the risk of getting robbed by "regular" criminals or ending up part of a police raid after someone snitches on you.
Disclaimer: I'm Venezuelan, and I'd think I know more about our particular situation than some clout-chasing gringo influencer. ;) [1]
[0] https://www.similarweb.com/website/localbitcoins.com/#overvi...
[1] I apologize if me derisively dismissing that person's arguments (or if the usage of "gringo" comes off as too offensive- it is mildly derogatory, but it's also playful) weakens my own, but I'm simply sick and tired of people that either have no skin in the game or with interests that lie elsewhere, and raise similar points against crypto when they're just patently untrue.
Store your wealth digitally in an asset with a fixed supply that is not controlled by a government entity without the use of a third-party intermediary.
Obviously this applies to only to Bitcoin and not inflationary cryptocurrencies.
You're let down because a currency is acting like a currency?
I think you missed the point? That's it. That's the revolutionary part!
I did not plan on doing this, I didn't even know how to use these BTC ATMs before this. But the ability to have access to cash in any country you are without international transfer hassle is one huge benefit.
Banks were just recently outed for laundering 800x more cash for drug cartels than Bitcoin or any cryptocurrency system has ever done.
Is it really even a punishment if you made more than the fine imposed?
did you ever hear the phrase “money laundering”? most fraud is done using “real” money. we should get rid of money to prevent fraud. /s
Have you ever been denied an application for a checking account? What about a credit card?