Is open finance less useful than ads?

I don't think so.

Open finance sounds cool until you realize it means crypto, which is not very useful

hmmm, i can loan stablecoins via crypto & receive interest with zero intermediary. or i can sell digital assets (e.g. art or IP) directly as an artist anywhere in the world, uncensorably & without revealing my identity (e.g. if in China). pretty useful.

I have no idea what any of that means.

Open finance already exists. My neighbors and I trade tomatoes for lemons occasionally. Bartering is open finance. Shackling yourself to some meme token does not seem very open to me, compared to exchange of goods which has certainly stood the test of time and the rise and fall of countless societies. Can't really say the same for crypto.

Brave is a really good example of where the two can even meet. It would not have been possible without crypto, and I'd suggest it's much more useful than the entire traditional ad industry.