Nobody talks about Monero in these discussions, but I'll be the person to keep mentioning it. Yes, the majority of crypto is garbage, because they don't have privacy in mind.
Would you say this is a niche use case? Can you see the masses using Monero with its current user experience?
Not at all. A lot of people are seeking financial freedom, privacy and stability which Monero has been offering for years. The user experience is simple and privacy is very hard to compromise if you follow basic precautions. The Monero economy is the biggest growing crypto economy you'll see these days. No NFTs and digital only garbage. People are selling, buying and offering services all with Monero using arbitration bonds as a precautionary method of preventing fraud. Just take a look yourself on MoneroMarket and Monerica.
Used XMR for the first time this past week (Anna's Archive and Mullvad VPN subscriptions) - pretty seamless experience due in part to Monero GUI Wallet and LocalMonero.