"really early days" is an argument that a lot more work is needed, not that everyone should go all in knowing there is going to be a lot of collateral damage along the way even _if_ it works out.

> Have you considered it's just really early days?

How many years do early days last?

> Why would the poor have wanted to switch to the Internet?

Look at the history and this is easily answered: it let them do things better/easier/cheaper. That could be shopping, accessing government services, dealing with companies, finding a job, seeking educational material, entertainment, dating, connecting with friends and family (email was a pretty sweet alternative to long distance phone calls), etc. The internet picked up sharply as computers came down in price and people tried even cheaper options like WebTV because there was so much demand, and that started happening very quickly.

In contrast, cryptocurrency had much lower barriers to entry but despite having at least twice as many years by that point it has very little non-speculative usage because it doesn’t do anything most people care about. Even being a cheaper PayPal/Venmo would be an improvement.

This implies that your retirement savings are in cash, which is inaccurate for most folks. And certainly, I'd rather have it invested in the stock market than the wild fluctuations of the crypto market, especially with its uncertain withdrawal ability and complete inability to recover if someone steals it (which is, again, typically much easier with crypto than a brokerage).

Then buy I-Bonds

> Try saving for retirement. At 2% inflation (the target rate), after 20 years you'd lose 1 - (.98 ^ 20) = 33.2% of the purchasing power of your savings.

People shouldn't be holding dollars for retirement. People should be investing in productive assets. Its not good to have society's wealth locked up in paper notes or shiny metals hidden under a mattress or buried in the backyard.

Most people don't save for retirement by storing stacks of cash.