Possibility, I have heard “derivatives” most commonly used as a math term not a financial one. But it’s got plenty of other meanings: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/derivative

>that it by far dwarfs the original meaning of the instantaneous rate of change in calculus.

That's not even the original meaning. According to etymology section on wiktionary, it dates back to middle french and latin, before issac newton was even born.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/derivative#Etymology

Cryptography is more widely used than cryptocurrency. That people don't understand they're using it doesn't change the fact that "threatens the cryptography industry" is more scary than "threatens the cryptocurrency industry" especially since cryptocurrency relies on cryptography so it would be directly threatened as a consequence.

The term 'derivative' is rarely ambiguous, where as 'crypto' often is. That's a key difference here.

Derivatives industry means one thing though, and doesn’t mean the mathematics industry. It’s not ambiguous either

The thing is that cryptocurrency is really a niche application of cryptography, where cryptography is very broadly used. So it's a little like if people started using "petroleum" to mean petroleum jelly. Sure, nobody is aware of cryptography's effect on their life. But it is a key ingredient in everything including cryptocurrency.

No.