Bitcoin was not bought because people believed it will replace all currencies. They bought bitcoin to get rich fast and cash out BEFORE the expected crash.
That excitement disappeared pretty quickly once I came to the (in hindsight, obvious) realization that its only valid use cases were illicit transactions and speculation. I donated whatever I had and moved well away from it (certainly a poor financial decision in retrospect, but I still believe it was the right choice personally).
The shine has been off BTC for a long time. Even though some (if not most) of the early adopters were as you describe, I suspect that almost all of the more recent comers have only joined the party for the get rich quick scheme.
Crytocurrencies have many valid use cases. For one, they are the only system that allows sending money truly anywhere in the world, to anyone, anytime, and near-instantly. No other system accomplishes this. My most poignant example was being able to send money to a then-homeless unbanked friend, on a sunday, and he even converted it to cash in hands within 1 hour as he was near a bitcoin ATM. In such an emergency, no other system would have worked. We briefly considered Western Union but he was banned from them due to previous financial issues. So the permissionless aspect of Bitcoin was another benefit.
It's a little puzzling that you were an early adopter, and yet did not appreciate the qualities. Perhaps you think crypto isn't useful to you personally, therefore it has no use cases for anyone else.
What makes this argument different than the "I don't have anything to hide" anti-privacy argument?
Crypto currency is a wasteful, destructive, expensive and innefficient technology that has few benefits except facilitating crimes like tax evasion, money laundering, financing terrorism and purchasing drugs.
What are the others, in the specific context of this conversation (which is privacy from the government, not from random other citizens)?
This is perhaps the primary reason that the right of privacy even exists.
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin directly mitigate (if not outright prevent) that risk.
For example, I expect Bitcoin to likely remain an alternative system, used only for a minority of transactions. And this view didn't conflict with my desire to buy in when I did.
These people were minning not buying bitcoin.
I guess they could have all been lying to puff up their investments, but then I guess I'm left with thinking those particular people were stupid and liars.
I often wonder if those same people moved into Bitcoin.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_dollar_(private_curren...
Speculative spikes can happen for a lot of reasons, but that Bitcoin would replace all currencies (as early advocates would have had you believe) was not one of those reasons.