> Intermediaries are a huge reason the web is the way it is. If we can eliminate them, the internet looks very different.

That's what makes me the most skeptical. I don't see a lack of intermediaries in crypto and the crypto intermediaries are far sketchier than their non-crypto counterparts. Just compare Tether to your local bank. Tether could pull the rug on USDT tomorrow and your recourse would be... what? Same with NFTs and the entities hosting the actual art you're paying for. I can have some confidence that Steam will be around 10 years from now; not so sure about boredapeyachtclub.com. The most notable party that's removed from the equation by crypto is the only one I have some small measure of influence on - the government.

From the outside it looks like: "meet the new boss, same as the old boss".