You can't point to one case and say that it doesn't work. My experience is that you as a consumer will win a chargeback. It's so reliable that there mere mention of it to a merchant will make them refund you, because their fees go up if their chargeback rate goes up.

Also cryptocurrencies make this infinitely worse, not better.

If you want to make a case for cryptocurrencies you should actually go with the safety for the merchant, not the consumer. The consumer holds the power with credit cards. But then again today the merchant can always choose to only take debit cards, thus fixing the whole problem.

And it's not like you don't have to trust anyone to use cryptocurrencies. The government will still kick down your door if you break the law because that's what people want from society.