I described some of this in other comments, but my favorite use case is Vechain (I hold their coin). They primarily focus on supply chain logistics, Walmart uses them for their food supply chain. Food validation is a big issue in China, so you can scan a QR code and get information on where your food has been and the temperature it has been kept at all along the chain. They also just released a covid passport for the small country of San Marino.

Beyond just Vechain, Cardano is working with Ethiopia to give five million students a blockchain-based ID that will allow the government to track their academic performance. There are more examples like these, though admittedly many of them have been announced in the past year or so. Ethereum, which is a bit older than these projects, is on path to clear $1-2 Trillion this year.

I know the argument that this is early days isn't very compelling, but I think it makes more sense to look at generation 3 cryptos as the start of crypto's focus being fully blockchain projects instead of currency replacements.

Think about this in the context of the discussion. Does it follow that we should ban crypto if it doesn't appeal to you? Or should you just not use it personally?

I'm just responding to the debate about whether cryptocurrency is useful beyond... itself.

For the record I don't believe it should be banned broadly speaking. Banning legal exchanges for proof of work cryptocurrencies is something I might be convinced is a good idea since PoW is a disaster, but I would not support banning non-PoW consensus cryptocurrencies.

Get rid of PoW and a lot of the bad shit about cryptocurrency is gone. Yes you can still buy droogs with it, but most droogs are bought with cash anyway. Cryptocurrency is a small fraction of the droog market.