Not to cast too broad a brush, but humans are really good at rationalizing things and denying their true motivations.

Sure, there are some true believer libertarian cryptonerds still living the original dream.

I suspect, though, that for every "true believer" out there with actual deeply held beliefs about financial systems, you'll find countless others in it purely to ride the wave and speculate, who learn just enough of the jargon to befuddle objections in casual conversation.

Source: several non-technical, non-economist relatives who have "gotten into" cryptocurrencies in the past few years, trying to explain their merits to me.