Incorrect; it's to bypass the middlemen that create the links of trust between two parties exchanging money. That was the point of Bitcoin from the start.
(The many other crypto coins since then are mostly BS freud.)
(The many other crypto coins since then are mostly BS freud.)
Whether or not it was the point of Bitcoin from the start, "removing the middlemen" is bullshit because you still need exchanges, wallet providers, people running nodes, etc. Cryptocurrency in practice just transfers power from traditional middlemen to new technically-advantaged middlemen.
Miners now replace this since there is a network fee required to transact.
I'm not sure what the current state of affair is, but ETH gas fees were egregious last time I transacted ETH.
Normal people cannot function in a cryptocurrency ecosystem without these new tech middlemen. This is exactly what I mean when I say _in practice_. Average people are still left to the whims of cryptocurrency corporations that are worse than banks because they're unregulated, much greedier, and much less risk averse.
you don't need exchanges or wallet providers, or any other intermediary, to exchange Bitcoin -- those add layers of convenience (conversion, storage), but they do _not_ strengthen the web of trust and do not provide the same function as intermediary banks and clearing houses do
yes, you do need people running nodes, but they're not intermediate layers, and you can run a node yourself to benefit from the system (though in practice it's no longer profitable due to bitcoin farms)