Time value of money is not the same. It’s actually simple and elegant and flexible, and to your point, you want to see the borrower have a plan, so to speak. Or cash flows. Or collateral. Or all of the above. And still, you can lose. But the concept of the price of money is separate from that.

Simple.

It is always can you trust the other party.

And that's the basis of society, government and money.

>Every place I see that offers interest on crypto deposits, I fear they have no business plan to generate the profits to pay the interest on a deflationary fake internet money in the first place.

You are correct. Literally every place offering high interest rates on crypto deposits is a Ponzi scheme.

The concepts bleed into each other, but Matt Levine explains it well. The Ponzi scheme is unsustainable. it gives you a solvency problem, your assets are bad and no amount of time will help. With fractional reserve banking run on banks usually come down to a liquidity problem, everyone wants their money now and you don't have all of it. So you call up someone with cash, like the FED, and theyll lend to you because you are a chartered, regulated bank.

basically the difference is asset quality and proper accounting. Banks are similar to ponzis, but they are HIGHLY regulated to ensure their continued operation.