Deflation is not an inherent attribute of crypto currency. Only some of them are deflationary, most notably Bitcoin.
Dogecoin for example is inflationary. Exactly five billion new Dogecoin will be created and enter circulation every year.
Fiat is based on people's trust with governments. Crypto is based on people's distrust with governments...
The question is not if "crypto is a novelty that enables some people to go around some laws" - everybody can readily agree to that. The question is whether it is a systemic force/ agent of change, that can e.g. prevent enforcement of some kind of laws forever and thus have long-lasting societal impact. I think the jury is very much out on that. (and no, you can't rely on criminals as exit nodes if you claim to be an unstoppable agent of change)
The deflationary bit, is sort of a problem on the centralization of wealth yeah, but that's a macro problem, not a barrier of entry to individuals
I think that your comment tries to take digs at Crypto in an overly contrarian way, Crypto is digital gold which can be easily hidden, I guess that you could buy a bunch of paper Swiss bonds hide them on a bag or whatever and take a flight with these, but that already has a higher barrier of entry than buying wherever amount you want on ether and put it on a thumb drive, I guess both methods could work, certainly both are easier and sneakier than carrying a brick of gold around on your flight luggage
What you're actually saying it suddenly doubles in value when converted to another currency.
Just the same as if I owe someone $10, in the same currency, then it doesn't matter if the ratio of the dollar to the ruble doubles or triples at the same time. It's still $10 to both of the parties.
If crypto is not currency, it needs to be converted to currency before use and as such can trivially be blocked with KYC rules at conversion.
If crypto desires to be a serious currency, it needs to greatly improve efficiency and stop being deflationary.
(Funnily enough, Tesla accepts dogecoin but not USDT, so maybe I am wrong with the second requirement; but maybe not - it's likely just a gimmick in this case)