And it's still not widely understood that they're synonymous.

Ideological adherents of crypto deal with this fact by denying it. But ultimately you either have laws and stability, which require restrictions and regulations, or you have a scammy free-for-all that attracts opportunists and speculators who will prey on others.

There is no chance whatsoever that an unregulated system of exchange will not head in that direction. Opportunists and predators gonna opportune and prey.

TBF mainstream markets have the same issue, and the official financial industry is hardly a model of good behaviour.

But at least it's somewhat controlled, even if not by much, as opposed to not being controlled at all.

> Freedom to defraud others through complex pump-and-dump, ponzi, or rugpull schemes is bad.

Sadly, HN seems to think Crypto is only about that. HN's loss, I'd suppose. Though YC, the real motivation behind HN, seems to get Crypto[1]. So probably not that big of a loss really.

[1] https://techcrunch.com/2022/03/29/the-25-crypto-startups-tha...

Not the flex you think mon ami. All you're proving is that a lot of people who wagered a lot of money have every reason to flex on crypto, and force it down people's throats.