I'm curious how you think people "make money" on crypto. Wouldn't those people getting rich be doing it at the expense of people losing money investing in crypto?
Of course everyone cashing out at the same time would be akin to a bank-run. In practice this doesn't happen since people bought in at different times and have a different cost basis.
If I bought 10k of ethereum at one point in time and sold if for 100k, I put 10k into a pot which I took 100k out of.
Basic math tells me there won't be a "rising tide" for the boats that are left when anyone else pulls out.
I do not see how crypto is not a zero sum game, actually its a negative sum game if we deduct the mining costs, lost coins and the exchanges fees. Wasnt this supposed to work without whaleish, centralised exchanges?
One doesn't need to run a node to use the system but it is accessible to everyone, just as the code is there to be scrutinized publicly.
The entire point was to reform currency where economic policy is more predictable and the currency less susceptible to kleptocracy.
Interestingly enough the inflation rate of both Bitcoin and Ethereum is now lower than that of major world currencies. So while volatility still needs to trend lower for day to day usage, the case for a store of value has already been established in the past decade and anyone can see the price history and number of wallets increasing exponentially.