I feel like this is definitely a lot more than that. Local banks in many countries, along with many online banks allow USD wire transfers that do not get converted. In countries like Sri Lanka, where the local currency is rapidly depreciating, many people actually never withdraw funds to local currency accounts to protect against this.
Wasn't servicing exactly those customers (people without recourse to stable currencies and the international banking system) always the answer to "what do crytocurrencies do well besides speculation and crime?"
Instead the international transfers are generally done via crypto (one thing it does well) and then you "know someone" who will give you cash on the other side (usually in US Dollars).
Over the last few years in Lebanon this has become pretty common:
n absence of a formal framework, traders use a peer-to-peer swapping system, contacting one of a handful of established crypto-to-cash brokers in Lebanon or finding a buyer through social media.
https://www.arabianbusiness.com/money/wealth/alternative-ass...
I don't really understand what the "quiet part" they are referring to is supposed to be.
No, it implies they (or a person they're informally swapping their crypto for cash with) have access to a bank which accepts inbound wire transfers in USD, which is pretty common in economies with weak local currencies, as pointed out above with the example of Sri Lanka. That's a larger, less rich and less American set of people than those with access to a US bank account (who appear to be able to continue to use ACH for withdrawals for now).
Or to put the "quiet part" yet another way, cryptoenthusiasts were suggesting quite different things about numbers of developing world people using crypto (USDT even!) as a store of value when a platform wasn't rugpulling a major cashout route for them...
And that's exactly what crypto does. As far as I'm concerned, the ability to store, send and receive crypto without the consent of a 3rd party is the greatest utility of crypto. Using a 3rd party like Binance or FTX to store, send or otherwise manage your crypto entirely defeats the purpose of crypto. The failures we seen haven't been failures of crypto, they have been spectacular failures of exchanges and 3rd party platforms that frankly nobody with any brains would use. I find the common argument that it is "too complicated" for "normal people" to manage their own wallets ridiculous. If someone isn't willing to put forth the extremely minimal effort to learn how to set up, manage and secure their own wallet then I have very little sympathy when obvious scams like Binance or FTX separate them from their money.