I plan on only accepting crypto for consulting this year, it filters out clients and I have limited time.

At some point I will exchange to USD to pay whatever I owe in taxes and to pay any vendor that does not take crypto. I imagine if I were an unscrupulous actor I would skip the tax step and avoid vendors that don't accept crypto.

Good for you. I have rent to pay, so I need to be paid in USD. That brings us back to my original question: Are the people I have to go through to exchange crypto to USD not middlemen?

That was an example of how to avoid conversion to 'real money' through spending and accepting only crypto.