The killer use cases of crypto are not visible to HN readers living in relatively stable North American or European countries. Take a look at the the "Global Crypto Adoption Index Top 20" [1] for the past years and ask yourself, "do Vietnamese people love trading monkey gifs? Are Ukrainians especially susceptible to Ponzi schemes? Is Venezuela laden with techbros?" [2]

No. It's that people in many of the countries in the top 20 live under unstable governments and monetary systems, with extreme debasement, inflation, inability to store value without seizure, transfer value without controls, accept remittances, etc. Crypto absolutely has use cases in these situations, and these extremes inform the means.

"If you’re in a developed country, and you’re happy with your banking system, and you’re not a sex worker, and you have zero concerns about your country being taken over by fascists, you probably don’t need cryptocurrency and shouldn’t worry about it. If other people say they do need it, don’t call them liars and say you know with certainty that nobody has ever used crypto for anything besides Ponzi schemes and monkey pictures. Just let them use it!" [2]

[1] https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/2024-global-crypto-adoption...

[2] https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/why-im-less-than-infinitely...